Police intervention in protest over arrest of Ümit Erkol: We want a change of government

A protest was held in front of the Ankara Provincial Headquarters to condemn the arrest of CHP's Erkol.

Police intervened when party officials and members of parliament attempted to march to the Ministry of Justice, and participants were affected by tear gas.

CHP Ankara Provincial Secretary Yüksel Işık stated the following:

"We know that there is no legal basis for this arrest. Let alone someone like the Republican People's Party Ankara Provincial Chairman, it is unacceptable for anyone to be detained in an unfair and unlawful manner at the crack of dawn just to take their statement. We are not bothered by the opening of an investigation or the taking of a statement. Our grievance is that our Provincial Chairman, whose address and whereabouts are known and who cannot possibly tamper with evidence, was taken into custody abruptly at the crack of dawn over a matter that does not even fill a sesame seed, and was arrested after being held in custody for four days. We do not believe there is a crime here. Even if a crime has been invented, the universal principles of law dictate trial without arrest. There is no crime; the universal principles of law are being violated; politics is being disciplined by using the law as a weapon. It is clear that both his long detention and his arrest are intended to cast doubt on the Republican People's Party through our Provincial Chairman in the public perception. The main purpose of this operation is to suppress the effective opposition that our CHP Chairman, Mr. Özgür Özel, is conducting against the government. Undoubtedly, one of the important pillars of the CHP's effective opposition is our CHP Ankara Provincial organization and our organization's chairman, Ümit Erkol."

EMİR: THEY HAVE JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

CHP Group Deputy Chairman Murat Emir also spoke, saying: "The AKP can no longer engage in politics. Those who engage in politics will go to the people and find solutions to their problems. Those who do not do this, those who are the cause of the difficult conditions we are in, namely those in the Palace, have left all the work to the judicial branches because they can no longer engage in politics. There is no one engaging in politics; they have judges, they have prosecutors, they have law enforcement... In a state of law, each of us is accountable. Look at how our comrades in Istanbul are debunking the indictments. They want to bring the CHP to its knees by arresting everyone. They will never make us take a step back. We will not bend an inch. We will never be intimidated. We will fight until we bring justice and democracy to this country. We are calling out from here: If you have the courage, bring the ballot box."

YAVAŞ: "WE WANT A CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT"

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who stated that the process is unlawful, also said:

"Today we are once again facing an illegality. Our provincial chairman has been arrested. The Minister of Interior announced: 'We have authorized investigations into this many AK Party members.' Have we seen any one of them being taken from their home in the morning, dragged away, and arrested? It is claimed that the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives have a public loss of 4.3 billion... It is alleged that the Yunus Emre Foundation has embezzled 1.5 billion liras. You do not even call them to give a statement. But any administrator from the Republican People's Party... You are looking for ways to put everyone who has almost passed by the party inside as soon as possible. For this reason, we want a change of government. Let there be a change of government so that from now on, only and only the rule of law will prevail. You are also preventing the elected provincial chairman of Ankara from engaging in politics. Everyone here will continue to maintain their struggle. Therefore, this arrest is of no benefit to anyone."

AYTEKİN: WE ARE GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT DAYS

CHP Deputy Chairman Ensar Aytekin also noted the following:

"We are going through difficult days. We are going through days as cold as this night, as dark as this night. So much so that we are going through days that make the March 12 and September 12 coup regimes look like a picnic. What happened on the night of March 31, 2024? That night, we won 413 municipalities all over Turkey and became Turkey's leading party after 47 years with a historic margin and a 37.8 percent vote share. Dear friends, everything started that night. That is why fear has gripped them. Our Ankara Provincial Chairman has a job, a profession, a wife, a child, an address... While he could have gone and given a statement to the judiciary with a phone call, he was detained by having his house raided at the crack of dawn as if they were catching a fugitive. We are not saying let us not be accountable to the judiciary. Everyone in this country is accountable to the judiciary when necessary. And the judiciary will make its decision independently. Everyone knows that there is no justice in this country. The judiciary has become a dependent organ of the ruling party. It has become, unfortunately, a party organ that we call the judicial branches."

POLICE INTERVENTION IN THE MARCH

Following the protest, party members wanted to march to the Ministry of Justice. During the march, police teams intervened, and members of parliament and other participants were affected by tear gas.

Gamze Taşcıer, Chair of the CHP Labor and Social Security Policies Board, who was affected by the gas, reacted to the intervention, saying, "An approach that does not accept any democratic ground was displayed."

BOZKURT: "WE EXERCISED OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT"

CHP Youth Branches General Secretary Deniz Bozkurt said regarding the events: "Today, as the CHP Ankara Provincial Organization, we held a press statement against the unjust detention of our Provincial Chairman Ümit Erkol. After this statement, we wanted to exercise our constitutional right to demonstrate and protest. We wanted to leave a black wreath at the Ministry of Justice's illegality. While the Ministry of Justice should be the sole distributor of justice, no one trusts this ministry today. No one trusts this minister. Akın Gürlek is destroying justice with a political administration, with political behavior. We were gassed, there was a scuffle. We were pushed and shoved. Look at where we ended up from a press statement and leaving a wreath. This is the photograph of justice in Turkey. We do not accept this. We are standing tall against the operations carried out against our party. There is no prison in this country big enough to hold us all. We are not discouraged, we are not intimidated, we are not taking a step back."