Selahattin Demirtaş apology from Özgür Özel! He responded to Bahçeli

Parties are holding their group meetings in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) this week. Following the MHP and DEM Party, the CHP is currently holding its group meeting.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's statement, "Demirtaş's release will be auspicious for Turkey," has become a major topic of discussion. Bahçeli also argued that the reconciliation commission in the TBMM should listen to terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan and stated that his party is ready to participate in the committee to be established for this purpose.

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel spoke at his party's group meeting in the TBMM.

Our Chairman Özgür Özel is speaking at our party's TBMM group meeting. https://t.co/k5p8NZUXbV

— CHP ???? (@herkesicinCHP) November 4, 2025

Highlights from Özel's statement are as follows:

"I greet you all with respect. I bid a warm welcome to everyone watching and listening to us. In the meantime, we have left October 29 behind. Our organizations and municipalities in all 81 provinces celebrated it with great enthusiasm in its 102nd year. I thank everyone who contributed. Long live the Republic!

We stood united against a new conspiracy in Çağlayan. We held our rallies in Eskişehir and Arnavutköy. We spent a week together without surrendering to fear and without pleasing the oppressor.

"ERDOĞAN DID NOT KEEP HIS WORD"

Erdoğan gave his word, saying, 'No one will be left in tents after one year.' When the year ended, 658 thousand houses were supposed to be built, but 18 thousand houses were delivered. We are now on the 1000th day. They boast about delivering nearly 300 thousand houses. As someone who stayed there continuously for 35 days, I have valued all the work done there. But 3 days after the earthquake, those who know the state must manage it, and Mr. Erdoğan said, 'We will finish the houses here within a year.' This promise was made. People wanted to believe this promise. He said we would deliver 650 thousand houses when that year passed, but he could only deliver 18 thousand. They boast about providing 300 thousand houses in the 3rd year, which corresponds to 40 percent of the promise they made. Today, hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors are living in containers or with relatives outside the city. More than half of the businesses are not operational.

We have always been there with our municipalities and our deputies. Our mayors have never withdrawn their support from the earthquake zone. We will strive not to leave any of the earthquake survivors' problems unresolved. I thank both our municipalities and everyone, regardless of their party, who contributed to the region. We have our Sındırgı Mayor among us. There is a request for Sındırgı to be declared a disaster zone. The compassionate hand of the state needs to reach Sındırgı.

"IF KOCAELİ WERE UNDER CHP, THEY WOULD HAVE CONDUCTED A DAWN RAID"

As you know, there is an urban planning scandal in Gebze. There is a metro construction project started by the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality and later transferred to the Ministry of Transport, and unfortunately, a 7-story building that was structurally sound collapsed and fell during this metro construction, and we lost four of our citizens there. Subsequently, 21 buildings and 28 workplaces were evacuated. And then, while the incident was still fresh, the Ministry of Transport immediately said, 'It has nothing to do with us,' and stepped aside, claiming that early communication is good. However, a report reinforced with questions by the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers emerged last July. It says, 'You are building a metro here, the ground is weak. This construction could cause slippage in the ground under these apartments.'

Did you work on it, did you check it, are you thinking of evacuating the houses? How many did you evacuate? Are you not considering urban transformation here? No one valued it. At first, when the building collapsed, they said, 'It is something specific to that building, it has nothing to do with our metro.' But now it is understood that an entire neighborhood narrowly escaped a major disaster because proper precautions were not taken and proper care was not exercised while that metro was being built. But of course, when such a disaster occurs, their only goal is...

For example, imagine if the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality were held by the CHP. The Ministry of Transport would not have taken over the metro construction then, of course. If the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality were doing it with its own resources, and this collapse had occurred, which Republican People's Party mayor, municipal council members, or bureaucrats would they have broken down the doors of at 6 in the morning to take into custody? Now, as soon as they hear the news, they make a false statement within 6 minutes saying it has nothing to do with our ministry. We will stand by the families of our four citizens who died there, who want justice to be served, until the end.

KARTALKAYA TRAGEDY

But this dual legal system... There is a fire in Kartalkaya. Our hearts are all burning. At 9 in the morning, my provincial head, my deputy, and my mayor inform me that we have lost over 55 lives so far. That day, Mr. Erdoğan is going to hold the Ankara Provincial Congress. He will pin a badge on a deputy joining his party. Until that moment, they keep the number at 5. The badge is pinned, the ceremony is held, the applause and noise end, faces are smiling, they turn away, and then the announcement comes: the death toll has reached 60.

We live in such a country, and on the door of that hotel that burned down in Kartalkaya, it is written in big letters: 'Licensed by the Ministry of Tourism. The Ministry of Tourism is authorized to inspect this place.' The Minister of Tourism, the deputy minister, and the countless bureaucrats under them do not accept the expert report that says they are primarily responsible, due to a phone call from Ankara. They call the expert report 'pirate.' They form another committee, which is essentially a pirate one itself, and they say to the report they did not accept, 'Remove the ministry from here and write Bolu Municipality instead.' The expert says, 'How can we write that? Write that it is outside the municipal boundaries.' They do not accept the report they did not sign. We have discussed that report here many times. In the second one, they include the municipality as well. The firefighter received an aggravated life sentence, citing the municipality's moral responsibility. Because you went to that hotel and saw the deficiencies. Then they withdrew the application. The firefighter gets an aggravated life sentence because you didn't go and report this. The Ministry of Tourism first does not grant permission for investigation so that those responsible are not tried. We went to the Council of State, it was overturned by the Council of State, and permission for investigation was obtained. But they have not been included in the investigation yet. Not a single question was asked. In the heat of the moment, a court decision is given regarding some of the defendants that will satisfy the families. But the main culprits...

"I SWEAR THEY WILL BE RETRIED"

The Minister of Tourism himself... hopefully, when our nation gives enough deputies and we ensure he is tried in the Supreme Council in the next term, justice will be served through him once again.

The Deputy Minister of Tourism and the high-level officials below him are not letting any of the main culprits of that issue be tried; they are not trying them, they are leaving it to time. And let me tell you what would happen: if the trial had been held in a month or a month and a half like Soma or Kartalkaya, 300 aggravated life sentences or life sentences would have come out in Soma. They spread it over 5 and a half years; they served 5 days per person. They served 5 days per person they killed. That is why now, justice will lead to such an outcome by spreading the protection, favoritism, and concealment of the Minister of Tourism over time. But I am telling you from here: I swear, I swear that we will not let go of this Minister of Tourism, those officials, those who burned Soma, or those responsible in Ermenek during the Republican People's Party government. They will be retried. They will be retried.

The nation is miserable due to the crisis and injustice, but the Justice and Development Party's concern this week under this supreme roof is the Foundations Law, the Foundations Law. What will they do with the Foundations Law? They will do something like this with the Foundations Law: If a foundation, which is managed by foundations because it does not have managers now, has a single nail in a building that existed in the past, that building will pass to the General Directorate of Foundations.

And from now on, it will stay there. If it rents it out, it will no longer need tenders or anything. The leasing authority will be exercised by bypassing tender processes. When you look at it, you cannot make sense of it. What are they trying to do? Let me tell you what they are trying to do. According to this law, they should give the Galata Tower to the Genoese. The Genoese built the Galata Tower. The Galata Tower passed to the Ottomans after 1453. The Galata Tower has burned, its roof has collapsed, and it has been rebuilt from that day to this. Its final form was given in 1960, but it is the apple of Istanbul's eye. It was with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It was with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for years when the AK Party was in charge. The entrance fees collected from every tourist, local or foreign, who entered went to the IMM. And the IMM provides services with that. Until when?

Until Ekrem İmamoğlu won the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2019. They went in 2020. They seized the Galata Tower and took it from the IMM. The judicial process has been ongoing since that day. The entire judicial process sees the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as right. Decisions were made, they were upheld, and it stopped. It is a matter of time before the Galata Tower belongs to the people of Istanbul again. The Ministry of Tourism seized it, didn't it? Services will be provided to Istanbul with the income from there. What state was the Basilica Cistern in? You saw what the IMM turned it into. You saw how the number of visitors exploded dozens of times over. There is money collected from the visitors entering there. But a foundation also has a nail in the Basilica Cistern. They will take that to the Ministry of Culture as well. The goal is, you know, to collect tax debts and SGK with interest from the municipalities at once so that the municipalities cannot pay salaries, cannot collect garbage, and CHP municipalism falls into disrepute.

There is that cheapness, that laziness, that form of indecency turned into legislative text, which is being discussed in parliament, the idea of 'let the people not support the CHP they voted for in the local elections in the general elections too.' To seize the Galata Tower, by God, it was easier to save it from the Genoese than to save it from the AK Party. By God, Fatih Sultan Mehmet set out from Manisa and reached Edirne, the capital. He had huge cannons cast, made his calculations, moved the ships, and took Istanbul; they said it is your right. It is your right. But this is what they understand from a foundation.

You give Istanbul to someone so that it serves me. He takes all the resources of that place and puts a son at the head of one, a son at the head of another, a daughter at the head of one, a son-in-law at the head of one, and the other son-in-law at the head of another. He gives this money to them. The time has come for an understanding that distributes the money intended for the service of the people of Istanbul, which we chose with the votes given by the people of Istanbul, to crony foundations, to no longer cast a shadow over Istanbul or Turkey.

"THE DEMOCRACY TRAIN WILL CONTINUE ON ITS WAY"

I am not telling these things to the Republican AK Party members. I am telling these to those who did not vote for us in the last election, not to those who did. I leave it to their conscience. You win the election. They cancel the mandate. You win again. They invent a thousand kinds of evil. You win again. They cancel your diploma. You win again. They invent imprisonments. You win again. They call you 'corrupt,' 'thief,' 'terrorist,' and they don't stop there, they call you 'spy.'

Is it possible for someone who does this to talk about democracy, to talk about the ballot box, to talk about the national will? Until today, they say, 'We got on the democracy train, and when it suited us, we got off.' The locomotive of the train he got on, the person who laid the tracks of the train he got on, is the founder of my party, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. You will get off that train, you will get off that train. But that train will continue on its way. It will continue on its way to the end.

Who are you? Those tracks were laid despite you, while you were standing against it. Those you love so much sentenced the one who laid those tracks to death so that he would not start the War of Independence. Who are you? Last year, on February 18, I said from this podium, 'A coup mechanism is working.' A coup mechanism is working. And normally, coups in Turkey and all over the world, as far as is known, are carried out against the government by someone. They also turn and look at the opposition to see if you are involved in this. Thank God, the Republican People's Party prides itself on not getting off that democracy train in the July 15 coup or any previous coup.

"IT IS SAID THAT Aziz İhsan AKTAŞ HAS FLED"

Finally, the indictment they talked about at the beginning of September has just been released. It became trash in one day. They tried to stand behind the 1.5 channel for a while. They were devastated as it was read. They said, 'Is this it?' They said, 'Is that so?' Now we are waiting. What will happen tomorrow? But there is this. There is a criminal organization leader with 704 years. Aziz İhsan Aktaş. I am not saying it. The prosecutor says it. He says, 'Criminal organization leader.' He says, 'He saw this organization.' He says, 'He did this, he did that.' He says, 'Then he came and confessed to us.' He says, 'He said something to everyone he encountered.' He is asking for 704 years of imprisonment, but he is walking around free. He is wandering around. It is not known if he is wandering or not. It is also said these days that he has fled. If anyone sees him, if anyone knows, it will be said. But the man being tried for 704 years is inside, and our mayors being tried for 4 years due to his slander are in prison. The one being tried for 704 years is walking around.

The one being tried for 4 years is lying in prison. For 6 months, 8 months, 10 months. If the one being tried for 4 years receives a 4-year sentence, the time he has served is almost equal to the sentence he will receive. That is the duration of the sentence anyway. We are facing such lawlessness. We are facing a terrible process. That is why, that is why I want to summarize the issue briefly. I mean, they held on, I said a moment ago. They said 'thief,' they said 'corrupt,' they said 'terrorist.' They said this, they said that. They saw it didn't work. Hopefully, tomorrow, with the registration record, all our friends will start to be tried without arrest. That is our expectation. That is the requirement of the law, the requirement of justice, the requirement of conscience. You cannot keep the one being tried for 4 years inside while the criminal organization leader being tried for 704 years walks around. You cannot keep anyone you accuse inside. Because you cannot proceed based on so much slander.

But on the other hand, the IMM file will come. They say, they say it themselves. I would never find it right to make such a comparison myself. But their own cronies say that the strong Beşiktaş one didn't hold, Aziz İhsan Aktaş didn't hold. How will this be defended when the IMM comes out? If it encounters an honest judge, and the vast majority are honest. We hope it does not encounter someone under the influence or fear of this gang. They say, 'Well, they will be tried without arrest.' They panicked because of this. They invented espionage and made an arrest from a backup case.

HE GAVE A DEADLINE TO AKIN GÜRLEK

The last paragraph of Article 2802/48 of the Judges and Prosecutors Law is as follows: Judges and prosecutors cannot take any official or private duties other than those determined by law, and cannot engage in income-generating activities. While the law is like this, I ask the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor. Besides your Chief Public Prosecutor duty and salary, have you obtained any other income through official channels?

Oral questions are answered within the time limit and would be read to the face of the addressee in parliament. If not satisfied, they would ask a new question. I am waiting for an answer to this oral question of mine by tomorrow evening. If no answer is received, after giving the answer to this oral question of mine at our rally tomorrow evening, I will send the relevant documents to all press and media organizations. The time for my oral question ends tomorrow evening. Let's see.

'BAYRAMPAŞA' REACTION

The Bayrampaşa Municipality has changed hands, they have come out and are shamelessly making thank-you speeches, 'I thank Bayrampaşa'... Shameless man! If there is anyone we should thank in Bayrampaşa, it is Hasan Mutlu, who is lying in Silivri; if there is a party, it is the Republican People's Party. We won Bayrampaşa. They drove you out of there. Today, we are hosting our district heads and our Istanbul Provincial Head, who fought in all the districts of Istanbul without ever letting go of the party flag in their hands against a great injustice, a thousand great injustices.

After every application, they even went to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights to object. Those objections were also rejected, and today a release application was made regarding Selahattin Demirtaş. Mr. Devlet Bahçeli calling this release 'it will be auspicious' is a very auspicious statement. Let us say auspicious things for auspicious things. But 9 years ago, 9 years ago, was the structuring of that mechanism, which coordinated all the judges in Turkey who had to make a decision alone in the middle of the night and took politicians from different places and sent them to prisons in Edirne, Kocaeli, and Gebze, auspicious for Turkey?

'DEMİRTAŞ' STATEMENT: I APOLOGIZE TO THE TURKISH NATION

I ask those who boasted about doing these things yesterday, those who boasted about putting Selahattin Demirtaş in prison, those who boasted about putting Figen Yüksekdağ in prison, those who boasted about keeping Osman Kavala in prison despite the ECHR decision. If you are saying 'this is for the best' today, don't you have an apology debt to turn around and pay? Let me be clear. We have one too. Even though 120 deputies voted against it at that time, even though we fought against it in the party at that time, this party also has a fault in those votes cast by 20-25 people from the Republican People's Party, saying, 'Let it pass from here if it is going to pass, instead of going to a referendum.' As the current chairman of the party, I apologize to all of Turkey, to the Turkish nation, for that fault of that day before history. In my capacity as the current chairman. The party had this much fault.

Then, the owners of 99 percent of the fault have come today, they have come today and turned into pure white. This will be auspicious, that will be auspicious. Again, Selahattin Demirtaş can still say, 'I care about this decision not only for my own sake but for the sake of the brotherhood law of 86 million.' I thank him from the bottom of my heart for this virtuous, honorable, patient, and exemplary stance of Selahattin Demirtaş. From the heart. It is not something everyone can do.