İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener wept bitterly at the podium

İYİ Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener expressed her condolences regarding the flood disaster in Antalya and the 9 miners in the İliç district of Erzincan.

Akşener also dedicated the final part of her speech to the disaster in the İliç district of Erzincan and played the song "Var Git Ölüm," performed by Aytekin Ataş. Unable to hold back her tears, Akşener wept at the Parliament podium.

Highlights from Akşener's statements are as follows:

"WE WILL NOT LET GO OF THOSE WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR NEGLIGENCE"

As you know, we experienced two disasters one after another yesterday. The disaster in the İliç district of Erzincan and the flood in Antalya... God is my witness that my heart aches while talking about these. I wish for our miners who have not yet been reached in İliç to be reached as soon as possible, and we offer our condolences to the people of both Antalya and Erzincan.

Of course, we are not surprised that those who do not listen to their nation do not listen to us. We are not surprised that those who do not care about their nation do not care about our warnings. We certainly do not expect those who do not think about their nation to think about our heavenly nature. However, our nature, whose balance has been disrupted, is now sounding the alarm. The government's incurable greed for rent is endangering the lives of our people in plain sight. Our nation pays the price for this endless irresponsibility every single time.

On June 29, 2022, from this podium, I warned the government against the danger at the gold mine in Erzincan's İliç. In fact, as the İYİ Party, we even submitted parliamentary questions on this matter. However, the government found us overly sensitive and chose to turn a deaf ear.

In other words, they actually chose to risk the disaster that happened yesterday. They did not choose our citizens in Erzincan; they chose the partners of the mine. They did not choose the Euphrates, which carries the lifeblood of Anatolia; they chose the faucets of rent. We will not let go of the negligence that led to the disaster in İliç and those who signed off on this negligence.

"DECLARE ANTALYA A DISASTER ZONE"

Furthermore, as a result of the flood disaster, we have submitted a legislative proposal to the Speaker of the Parliament through the initiative of our deputy, Uğur Poyraz, for Antalya to be declared a disaster zone as soon as possible so that our citizens do not suffer further grievances. Let no one have any doubt; we will be the followers of the process on both issues.

CRITICISM OF THE ECONOMY

They saw that they could not prevent the collapse in the economy, so this time they decided to change the storefront after the 2023 elections... I say 'storefront' because they only changed the visible face of the economy. The storefront changed, but the mentality that caused the great destruction in the economy did not change. Mr. Erdoğan did not take his hand off the economy. The former Central Bank Governor became the BRSA President. The masters of made-up figures at TÜİK were not touched. As such, this attempt by the government resulted in failure once again.

The Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) set the fitr charity (fitra) at 130 liras this year... Moreover, they showed this 130 liras as the minimum limit. As you know, fitra means a person's daily normal food requirement. According to the figure determined by the Diyanet, the monthly food requirement for a family of 4 is 15 thousand 600 liras. This actually shows the hunger threshold determined by the Diyanet for March. In other words, even when we calculate it through fitra, the hunger threshold is exactly 5 thousand 600 liras above the lowest pension... So today, even according to the Diyanet, millions of our retirees are struggling to live below the hunger threshold. In other words, in the era of the AK Party, which takes refuge in 'Nas' (religious texts) when it suits them, the retiree in Turkey does not even get a share of fitra anymore. Can there be such a lack of conscience? Can a state be managed like this? Moreover, this does not even include electricity, water, natural gas, rent, clothing, and transportation expenses...

PROTESTS IN HATAY

(Regarding Erdoğan's words "Hatay was left lonely") As if Kahramanmaraş, which is governed by the AK Party, was not left lonely, as if Gaziantep was not left lonely. As if Malatya was not left lonely, as if Adıyaman was not left lonely! He made such an inhumane sentence that it is unclear whether it is a confession or a threat. A week passed, and he came out as if he had never said these sentences and said, 'It is not right to threaten the nation by saying if there is no vote for us, there is no service.' He said exactly that. One week ago this, one week later that. We are of course used to Erdoğan's agile turns, but what happened in a week that he made such a quick turn?

As you know, on the night of the first anniversary of the earthquake disaster, our citizens in Hatay held a commemoration event. A breaking point occurred in Hatay that night. The people of Hatay did not want to listen to either the government or the main opposition. They showed a reaction to both sides. That reaction was a reaction against those who did not hear the nation while they were in a race to blame each other.

The people of Hatay said that night, 'You are no different from each other,' and indeed, those who could not digest the reaction shown by the main opposition came out and said, 'We know who the protesters are,' and even, as if they had counted them one by one, they added that if there were 100 protests, 99 of them were directed at the government. After censorship, we have seen this too. Okay, we are rivals, but they have become unable to accept not only our criticisms but also the criticisms of the nation. There is no such thing. For us, there is no difference between the deranged partisans who call earthquake victims who say 'there are no tents' leashed, and the heartless comrades who make the aid given haram because they did not get votes for themselves. For us, there is no difference between the government language that spews hatred at those who are not like them and the main opposition that spews anger at those who criticize them.

"WE ARE FIGHTING AGAINST TWO AUTOCRATIC STRUCTURES"

In the environment that Turkish politics is in today, we are actually fighting against not one but two autocratic structures. Moreover, the methods of both structures are the same, their mentalities are the same, and their interests are the same. For example, according to the pro-government media under the government's control, everything is fine in our country, and all the problems are with the main opposition. According to the comrade media under the control of the main opposition, everything is fine in the main opposition's own local power area, and all the problems are with the ruling party. One side attacks the main opposition to load the government's sins, and the other side attacks the government to hide the main opposition's incompetence. But in this shadow play, no matter what happens to the nation and the country, the result always remains the same. Hacivat is extremely pleased with his Hacivat-ness, and Karagöz with his Karagöz-ness. And their common concern is that a third party does not enter this order. Because the so-called politics they do in this rigged order they built hand-in-hand is very comfortable.

When we said we would enter the elections separately, everything happened to us. When the New Welfare Party (YRP), a stakeholder of the People's Alliance, tried to enter separately, some of the comrades I cannot believe were applauding the YRP to such an extent that it is the depth of hypocrisy. I have never seen such fraud in my life. They praise the YRP, the other side fires at them. I am truly curious about what the nameless journalist-looking types and expert-looking types who personally cursed at me and my party members 24 hours a day when there was a reverse situation will do.

"THEY TRIED TO COVER UP THE FIGHT WITH ME"

A lady who looks like a journalist both wrote and turned it into news on Halk TV, saying that I said to someone, that is, to a minister, to a former AKP deputy, 'I will not make Kemal Bey a presidential candidate because he is Alevi and Kurdish,' even though Kemal Bey's family comes from Khorasan. What fight was there? There was a fight where Kemal Bey's friends were being purged. They tried to cover it up with me.

I do not see the internal affairs of their own parties being reflected on us as this. But I see it as a more worrying problem. Normally, I sued that lady; we will do what is necessary. Then I called important people to ask what this was. Names emerged; I am not saying them because I did not get their permission, but I could say them. I called our friend who is called a former minister because his name was given; I called him, he is a name I respect, he had come to visit me, and he had indeed asked, and he had asked a question about Alevism, it has been two years, and I had said to him, on the contrary, 'Alevism is a plus value for me.' The fact that the president of this country is Alevi would cause one of the problem points of this country to disappear tomorrow. That lady called this minister and said, 'Meral Hanım said this to me.' Then a mention was made of an AK Party deputy; I have known him for 20 years, he is an Alevi friend of ours. I am saying it with his exact words: 'Sister, if you say in front of me that you will not make an Alevi or a Kurd president, I will slam the door and leave. We parted by hugging.' Now I told these for this reason: there is a scheme turning in Turkey, and I will not be the center of this scheme. There is another scheme here; I will reveal what this scheme is. Let this be my promise."