Zafer Party Spokesperson Azmi Karamahmutoğlu: 'Parliamentary monarchy was better than this'

Zafer Party Spokesperson and Deputy Chairman Azmi Karamahmutoğlu was a guest on the 12punto YouTube channel. Responding to Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu's questions regarding the detention process of Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, Karamahmutoğlu said, "The professor's detention has nothing to do with the law. The file is completely empty. We are talking to legal experts. Nothing that would lead to an accusation comes out of this." he said. 

Stating that Özdağ is in good health, Karamahmutoğlu used the expressions, "What is being done to Ümit Özdağ is a direct deprivation of his personal rights and a stripping away of his citizenship rights." he added.  

Speaking about the Imralı process, Karamahmutoğlu also said, "The concept of the nation-state is still on the operating table. Republicans, Atatürkists, patriots, and nationalists should not be a party to this." he said. 

The interview with Karamahmutoğlu is as follows: 

"How is Ümit Özdağ? Is he in good health?

His health is fine. He is aware of outside events due to the frequency of visitors. Of course, he cannot be intellectually nourished as he is in his office or at the party, but he is still informed. However, it is painful for a political party leader in the country to be unable to lead his own party or be restricted from producing politics during such a transition period. It is sad that a person who wants to do something for his country and his people is deprived of this. What is being done to Ümit Özdağ is a direct deprivation of his personal rights and the stripping away of his citizenship rights. 

'HE KNOWS HIS ARREST IS ENTIRELY POLITICAL'

Ümit Özdağ knows that the reason for his arrest is entirely political, and as far as I know, he will not be making a legal defense. Because the file is already completely empty. Thus, the professor knows that he is not being held inside due to the law, but for political reasons. 

The professor's detention has nothing to do with the law. The file is completely empty. We are talking to legal experts. Nothing that would lead to an accusation comes out of this. Let alone the trial date, the judge should have released him with an interim order after reading the file. They set the trial date for 2 months later. The AKP government, which has been in power for a quarter of a century, has politicized the judiciary just as it has politicized religion during its time in power, and Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ was put in prison as an example of the politicized judiciary being used as a stick against the opposition. With this, a message was actually intended to be sent to the social opposition as an example. It was essentially said: 'Look, I can take even the sharpest, most angular, and toughest among the opposition and throw them in jail, and no one can make a sound.' 

How do you evaluate the Saraçhane protests? 

I was on the bus in Saraçhane on the first day, along with our Deputy Chairman Ali Şehirlioğlu. We went to represent the party. We conveyed our get-well wishes to Özgür Özel. Our support continued in this manner. The reason we did not take part on the bus as a party was because the CHP was holding it as a CHP rally. The Victory Party Youth Branches, in particular, were very effective at the rallies in Ankara. I saw this: yes, these children, this generation—a generation that has known nothing but the AKP government—are objecting to the world they have grown up in and exist in. They do not want to live under such an administration and regime. These are brilliant children who listen to their parents. But the legal violations and human rights abuses have reached such a point that people have empathized and accepted this as if it were done to them. For this reason, everyone, including students, has started to take to the streets to protest. 

There are many political prisoners like Özdağ. What does the Victory Party think about these individuals? 

Mr. Erdoğan was initially presented as a politician who defeated all his rivals by winning elections. However, after losing this power, he began to eliminate his rivals by playing outside the rules. If you are neutralizing your rivals through the judiciary, you cannot derive political success from this. You cannot write a success story. If you are removing Victory Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ—who is the one who will conduct the opposition that will create a voter base against you—from politics and sending him to prison, you have not defeated your political rival here. For example, even the attempt to cancel the diploma of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu shows that he resorted to this because he saw him as a political rival. When the diploma cancellation was not enough, they brought in corruption and terrorism files. Parliamentary monarchy was better than this. 

'THE LAW MUST BE EQUAL FOR EVERYONE'

You have no problem when you sit down with the terrorist organization itself, but you accuse the other person when they sit down with a legal political party. Ümit Hoca expressed this very well with a concept he put into circulation after he was imprisoned: the 'enemy criminal law' theory put forward by the German philosopher Gunther Jacobs. Our AKP government took this and started to implement it in Turkey. The same thing is being applied to Ekrem İmamoğlu, and the same thing is being applied to other political dissidents. 

Do you think the same for Demirtaş? 

I am not truly familiar with Demirtaş's file. But I say this without using any subject: the law must treat all citizens equally. It must be equal for everyone, regardless of what the crime is. Even when Öcalan was captured and brought in, he was tried within the framework of the law, despite being the founder of a terrorist organization. Now, they should not fail to apply the law equally just to avoid proving those who say 'we want equal citizenship' right. Therefore, this applies to Demirtaş as well, and to others. I would like to live in such a country. I would like to leave such a country to my children. 

What would you say about a possible electoral alliance? 

Alliances are formed in practice by saying 'this won't work.' In other words, a clear line is drawn that this will not work with the People's Alliance. Then, the opposition looks at whether they will form a single block or two among themselves. Well, what I can see is that a third block could emerge alongside the current two-block opposition structure. The CHP is the dominant party of the opposition in terms of vote percentage. However, there is a segment that is unhappy with the CHP's policies and uncomfortable with the identity-based politics within the CHP. The new generation, which has not adopted any political party identity, makes its choices very easily without carrying any bigotry from the past. It is thanks to that youth that the Victory Party is emerging as the third party. In public opinion polls among youth aged 18-29, the Victory Party comes in third with 15 percent, following the CHP and the AKP. Even though the CHP is the dominant party of the opposition, this alone is not enough to defeat the government. If it thinks of a structure that will gather the opposition only under its own roof, it might collect the signs, but it cannot carry the entire electorate there. Therefore, it should let go and let the water flow in its bed. There is still a lot of time until the elections. Until then, every political party should carry out its own work. 

How does the Victory Party view the Imralı process? 

The concept of the nation-state is still on the operating table. Republicans, Atatürkists, patriots, and nationalists should not be a party to this. But unfortunately, in the current picture, we see that there are those among these groups who are part of this plan. Yet, when a microphone is extended to the person on the street and they are asked what their primary problem is, they say the economy and unemployment. Terrorism comes much later in the rankings. Despite this, instead of talking about the economy, they have made this the country's primary agenda. And along with these, a constitutional amendment is being discussed. Devlet Bahçeli is also talking about a constitutional amendment. He says he is making preparations. Why did you prepare a constitutional amendment and put it on the shelf? Is there such a need? Were these discussed in the party organization? Does the nationalist electorate have such a demand? Does the public have such a demand? 

'PROFESSOR ÜMİT'S FAULT IS INFORMING THE PUBLIC'

So you think you will take these from me with the imposition of two terrorist organization members, with the imposition of a terrorist organization that has sat in the lap of imperialism, right? This will not be that easy. I am not denying ethnicities. I am not denying the dialects used and spoken either. But in nation-states, the nation is the entire public through the definition of citizenship. 

Do you think Ümit Özdağ will be released at the first hearing? 

This is what legal circles and judicial circles are saying. Both those currently in office and those who have retired are saying this. Before this, Pervin Buldan speaks in Italy. She says, 'Abdullah Öcalan's physical freedom could come by mid-June.' The professor's hearing is announced as June, two days after Buldan's speech. This is being done so that Professor Ümit does not create a social opposition regarding the opening process. The professor's fault is informing and awakening the Turkish public. That is Professor Ümit's fault. When he gets out, he will continue to commit this fault. 

Are you expecting an early election? 

I do not want to make a prediction, but the spring of 2027 is what is being discussed in Ankara's political corridors. 

How do you evaluate the CHP's call for a boycott? 

Even before the CHP's announcement, I was someone who boycotted individually. I wouldn't shop everywhere, nor would I watch or read everything. The CHP's objection was a valid one. My 12-year-old son said to me the other day in a shopping mall, 'Dad, let's not go to the food court, there's a McDonald's there.' It has permeated that far. A boycott is also a form of action, and it is carried out. 

What do you think about Bahçeli's call regarding İmamoğlu? 

There is another politician who, like Ekrem İmamoğlu, has been held inside for over 3 months unjustly and for purely political reasons: Victory Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ. And Özdağ is a person who served as a deputy chairman under Devlet Bahçeli. However, Bahçeli has not said 'prepare the man's indictment' for 3 months. Even expecting this from Devlet Bahçeli is actually shameful. Because it is not right for anyone to give such an instruction to the judiciary. He should not have given this instruction for Ekrem İmamoğlu either.