Özgür Özel reveals Erdoğan's plan, saying 'It's no longer a secret!' 'When they first set out...'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel made statements regarding the current agenda during a live broadcast on Halk TV.

Referring to the 'octopus' analogy used by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding the operations against the İBB, Özel pointed to today's parliamentary group meeting, saying, "At the group meeting, I will show the octopus that only Erdoğan sees. The worst one isn't Fatih. I will say, 'If these things exist in Fatih, just imagine what's in Esenler.'"

Drawing attention to March 19, when the operations against the İBB were launched, Özel noted the following:

"When they first set out, on the morning of March 19, there was the terrorism issue. They wanted a trustee, but they had a hard time convincing Erdoğan. This is something being discussed in Ankara. It is no longer a secret. We went and handed the municipality over to an elected council member and returned.

They are not continuing with the same enthusiasm in the work they started. It has phases. The 1st phase is the phase of pure, absolute slander where the first operation was carried out. After that, they designed TRT and their own channels. There is no 560 million corruption, there are 1,200 phone calls. They expected us to cower or even fall into suspicion of one another. If there weren't someone in this seat who believes in Mayor Ekrem's integrity as much as his own, we would all be gone."

Özel also spoke about reports in the pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak targeting Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek. Stating that he had heard rumors that Şimşek might be dismissed, Özel said, "Şimşek is meeting with some people, and it's reaching my ears too. He is building a Plan B for himself, looking for a way out. But it might not be left up to his wishes; they might try to do it during the holiday break. What you call Yeni Şafak is the AKP's Pravda; it is attacking Mehmet Şimşek in its place."