Özgür Özel responds to presidential candidacy question: 'Mayor Ekrem, myself, Mayor Mansur...'

YENİ Party Chairman Özgür Özel answered questions from members of the press following the Founders' Board meeting held at the Anadolu Club.

Stating that he was elected chairman by unanimous vote, Özel announced that the members of the High Disciplinary Board (YDK) and the Party Assembly (PM) were also determined during the meeting.

RESPONSE TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY QUESTION

Özel gave the following response to the question, "The Republican People's Party had determined a presidential candidate, and that name was Ekrem İmamoğlu. Will you determine a presidential candidate in the short term in the upcoming process?":

“We have a new corporate identity regarding presidential candidates as well. For our new corporate identity, the party's authorized bodies and the congress may take various decisions in the coming period. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is neither an organ of Özgür Özel nor of the Republican People's Party. 15.5 million citizens determined him as the candidate at the ballot box on March 23, 2025."

"THE NATION'S CANDIDATE IS OUR CANDIDATE TOO"

Özel continued his assessment regarding Ekrem İmamoğlu's candidacy as follows:

“There is a judicial siege ahead of his candidacy. Furthermore, there are attacks regarding his diploma. We respect the citizen's candidate. He is already not just our candidate; the nation's candidate is our candidate too. In the coming process, regarding the possible scenarios that may occur there, we will decide together—Mayor Ekrem, myself, Mayor Mansur, and all the dynamics of the new party—on the most correct decisions to take.”