Özgür Özel's message: 'We have made all our preparations, our ears are on Monday': Court of Cassation statement

CHP's elected Chairman Özgür Özel, regarding the referral of the absolute nullity decision to the Court of Cassation, stated: "They are sending it one day before the judicial recess so that this decision is not reviewed and this result does not emerge.

Our eyes and ears are on the Court of Cassation on Monday.

The Court of Cassation will either turn back from this historic mistake or leave this coup against the nation's hopes for power unreviewed until the autumn. We have made all our preparations.

Our determination is absolute. We will either take our party back, meaning we will find a way to do this, or we will open a new path."

The decision of "absolute nullity" (legally considered void) and the "precautionary suspension" of the Özgür Özel administration, issued on May 21 by the 36th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice on the grounds that "irregularities were involved" in the CHP's 38th Ordinary and 21st Extraordinary congresses, has reached the Court of Cassation for appellate review.

The decision is considered one of the most critical judicial rulings in Turkish political history. If the decision is finalized, it is expected to have consequences that will fundamentally affect the organizational structure and management of the CHP. If the Court of Cassation overturns the file, the precautionary decision could be lifted and Kılıçdaroğlu's term could be ended.

Statement from Özel

Attending a public meeting in Kırıkkale, CHP's elected Chairman Özgür Özel also said the following regarding the transition to the Court of Cassation stage:

“Today is the 17th. July 17th. It has been exactly 57 days since the May 21 coup, that is, the struggle we have been carrying out together since the May 21 coup, where the party was first stripped of candidates, then stripped of its institutions, and then attempted to be stripped of its leadership. Normally, the appellate court that issued the nullity decision should have sent the decision to the Court of Cassation within a week, we should have sought our rights there, and the Court of Cassation should have rapidly reviewed this precautionary decision—which no one accepts, which produces results from the first day, which ignores the Court of Cassation, which ignores the search for justice, and which eliminates the order of political parties.

The president of the court that made the decision held the file for exactly 57 days in accordance with the instructions given to him from above. Exactly 57 days. The judicial recess begins on Monday. They sent the file to the Court of Cassation at noon today so that we could not seek our rights. By ensuring the Court of Cassation cannot review the file before the judicial recess, they confessed before history that they do not stand behind that decision, which they knew would be overturned and which they took under instructions from above.

"They are sending it one day before the judicial recess"

Look, not after 40 days; they should have sent it within a week normally. Let's say 10 days. Not 10 days, not 20 days, not 30 days, not 40 days. They are sending it one day before the judicial recess so that this decision is not reviewed and this result does not emerge. Our eyes and ears are on the Court of Cassation on Monday. The Court of Cassation will either turn back from this historic mistake or leave this coup against the nation's hopes for power unreviewed until the autumn. Never fall into despair. We have made all our preparations. Our determination is absolute. We will either take our party back, meaning we will find a way to do this, or we will open a new path."