BREAKING NEWS... CHP's 'Defending the National Will' rallies continue: Özgür Özel says 'Yes' to a 'Terror-Free Turkey'

The fifth of the "Defending the National Will" rallies, launched to demand the release of CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is being held in Silivri Prison, and to call for early elections, is being held in Van.

CHP Leader Özgür Özel's statements are as follows:

Today we are in the city of the sun. We have come to Van not to hold a rally in this square, but to bring hidden cries and concealed hopes out from under the stone, to make the voice of peace and justice heard, to shout out the hope for peace and justice, and to take action in this square against oppression, persecution, trustees, those who do not recognize the will of the people, coup plotters, and junta members! To take action!

Those old eras of politics are over. The era of 'fortresses' is over. The era of 'that is my fortress, this is my deeded property' is over.

I brought the greetings of Konya here. I brought the greetings of Mersin here. I brought the greetings of Yozgat and Samsun. I have come here to receive your greetings and take them all the way to İzmir. Greetings to Van! Greetings to Konya! As long as the greetings of Konya echo in Van and the greetings of Van echo in İzmir, the games of those who oppose peace, those who oppose friendship, those who want to set Turks against Kurds in this country, and those who show Alevis as enemies to Sunnis will all be ruined.

"MAY CHP'S FORTRESSES BE SACRIFICED FOR VAN"

We will be one, we will succeed together! When I go to Konya, some say: 'Özgür Özel, the Republican People's Party, went to the AKP's fortress.' There is no fortress. There is no longer an AKP fortress or a CHP fortress. Now all of Turkey, all cities, are the fortress of this nation, this people, and brotherhood. May the fortresses of the Republican People's Party be sacrificed for Van! May they be sacrificed for you! We come from a tradition that believes in democracy.

It is such that in Van, our vote share has increased, and it has also fallen significantly. We saw 57% of the vote in 1957, and we saw 1.5% in 2015. The nation decided, and we won all five parliamentary seats. The nation decided, and we could not win any seats. The nation decided in 1963, and we won the municipality with 70% of the vote. The nation decided, and we were left without a municipality in Van.

But we never blamed Van or the people of Van for the mistake. We took the fault upon ourselves. We said, 'We could not explain ourselves correctly.' We said, 'We did not speak correctly.' We said, 'We did not work hard enough.' And now, we have come not just as a party, but with the 'Turkey Alliance' that the Republican People's Party speaks of—an alliance that embraces social democrats and conservative democrats, conservative democrats and nationalist democrats, liberal democrats, socialist democrats, and the democrat of the Turk and the democrat of the Kurd together!

This alliance, this alliance, this alliance is actually the alliance that defends the ballot box. This alliance is the one that says either autocracy or democracy. This alliance is the one that says let's save democracy first, and then we can compete among ourselves. This alliance is the one that hears and makes heard the voice of the people, the peoples, and the nation against the one-man mentality, and it is the alliance that will win in the end. This is what democracy is. Democracy is a regime where the winner governs and the loser waits for their turn. But unfortunately, those who benefited from democracy in the past, and even those who said, 'We didn't want democracy,' and those who said, 'It is a train. It is a train. We get on when it suits us, we get off when it suits us,' are unfortunately denying the ballot box today, the very ballot box they came from, and are rendering it dysfunctional. The first example of this, and the latest example of this, is in Van. Van is aggrieved in this regard. In 2019, Mr. Bekir Kaya won the municipality from the BDP with 53% of the vote, but then a trustee was appointed to the will of Van. Then, in 2019, the HDP mayor was elected and took office with your votes, with 53% of the vote, with the consent of one in every two people, but a trustee was appointed in their place. In the 2024 elections, just a year ago, the people of Van never compromised their own will against these two trustees, that is, against the stubbornness of the state saying, 'Even if you elect, I will not let you govern. You will elect my candidate. If you do not elect my candidate, I will not let you govern Van'...

They never compromised their own will against this stubbornness. Let alone being intimidated or taking a step back from these pressures, they increased their vote and elected Mr. Abdullah Zeydan and Neslihan Şedal as Co-Mayors of the Van Metropolitan Municipality with 56%. However, this will that does not recognize this nation, that is hostile to the Kurd, that is hostile to the will of the Kurd, has appointed a trustee to the Van Metropolitan Municipality for the third time, imposing the governor it appointed as a trustee on those who did not elect its own candidate. I have no words against the governor's governorship regarding security. I have no words against the security measures. However, I have words against the governor's politics. An appointee, who is currently also appointed as a trustee to the will of Van, has been making requests, veiled threats, pulling ears, and sending messages so that people would not come to this square, saying if you come, this will happen, that will happen... Mr. Governor, know your governorship! Sit where you are sitting! Sit where you are sitting!

"THE GOVERNOR MADE VEILED THREATS TO PREVENT PEOPLE FROM COMING TO THE SQUARE"

They never compromised their own will against this stubbornness. Let alone being intimidated or taking a step back from these pressures, they increased their vote and elected Mr. Abdullah Zeydan and Neslihan Şedal as Co-Mayors of the Van Metropolitan Municipality with 56%. However, this will that does not recognize this nation, that is hostile to the Kurd, that is hostile to the will of the Kurd, has appointed a trustee to the Van Metropolitan Municipality for the third time, imposing the governor it appointed as a trustee on those who did not elect its own candidate. I have no words against the governor's governorship regarding security. I have no words against the security measures. However, I have words against the governor's politics. An appointee, who is currently also appointed as a trustee to the will of Van, has been making requests, veiled threats, pulling ears, and sending messages so that people would not come to this square, saying if you come, this will happen, that will happen... Mr. Governor, know your governorship! Sit where you are sitting! Sit where you are sitting!

And when Mr. Abdullah Zeydan and Neslihan Şedal were elected, they started preparations on the very first day against this ambitious, rightful stance of Van that defends its own will, saying, 'We will not give the certificate of election. We will give the certificate to the second party.' While the people of Van were objecting to this preparation that day, your brothers, your children, your loved ones, my loved ones standing behind me came and fought alongside you, and they took that certificate by force. We know how to win in an election we win. We know how to show respect in an election we lose. But we have never, ever allowed opposition to the national will, resistance to it, the appointment of trustees, or unjust arrests, and we will not allow it from now on.

Now there is a process on the agenda, I will touch upon it as well. But when I say it, when I come out and say, 'There is a Kurdish issue,' some people get angry. They think they will solve the Kurdish issue without accepting its existence, without saying it.

"HERE IS THE KURDISH ISSUE FOR YOU"

Look, my brother, do you know what the Kurdish issue is? This is exactly what the Kurdish issue is. In Manisa, the people of Manisa elect a mayor from the CHP, and he goes on to govern. In Osmaniye, in Devlet Bey's hometown, a mayor is elected, and he goes on to govern. In Rize, in Tayyip Bey's hometown, the people of Rize decide who will govern them, they cast their votes, they elect them, and they govern. When it comes to Van, when it comes to Diyarbakır, when it comes to Batman, when it comes to Mardin, they say, 'You cannot elect a mayor. And even if you do, we won't let them govern.' There is your Kurdish issue. This is the Kurdish issue, the Kurdish issue. Therefore, we must solve these problems together by embracing democracy and each other. Look, not just recently. Yes, they appointed trustees to exactly 49 municipalities last term. So far, they have appointed trustees to the Kurdish will 145 times in various periods, and they have appointed trustees to our municipalities, to three of our municipalities. One of them is the elected mayor of Esenyurt, Turkey's largest district, your own son, Ahmet Özer. Greetings to Ahmet Özer from here.

"ÖZER'S CRIME IS WINNING ESENYURT AS A KURD"

What was done in Ovacık and what was done to Ahmet Özer are the same thing. Now they say: 'Ahmet Özer is linked to terrorism.' Look, what is Ahmet Özer's crime? Ahmet Özer's crime is writing a book about solutions and peace. Ahmet Özer's crime is that during the previous resolution process, Abdullah Öcalan mentioned Ahmet Özer's name, saying, 'He is a good academic, he will contribute.' They wrote this into the indictment. Ahmet Özer's crime is that a child died in his hometown of Van, a child. He called the mother. He said to the mother, 'My condolences. My condolences. You raised very precious children, just like the child who passed away. One of the six children was a member of a terrorist organization.' Because of this, telling the mother of a terrorist organization member that she 'raised a strong child' is considered praising terrorism. That is why Ahmet Özer is inside. Let's not mince words. Let's speak clearly, very clearly. Ahmet Özer's crime is winning Esenyurt as a Kurd. There is no tolerance for the Kurdish will or Kurdish success. Let me explain this like this: May God have mercy on his soul. He was a very close friend of mine. We visited him many times while he was in prison with the friends behind us, with all our deputies. Sırrı Süreyya Önder, we had a special, special relationship. He got out of prison and came. As he was passing in front of my office, he popped in and hugged me. I had made my last visit to him in prison two or three months ago. I said, 'Welcome.' 'Sit down.' He said, 'No. It's the code. You visit those who come out of prison. But if I have my first tea with you, my people in the DEM Party will ruin me.' He said, 'Let me go to my own party first, then I'll come and have tea.' That Sırrı Süreyya Önder, the Sırrı Süreyya Önder who entrusted me with an important secret of his life, let me remind you of that secret here once more. He wanted me to watch the movie 'A Republic Song'. It was only its first week.

"THEY WEREN'T CARESSING Sırrı Bey'S PICTURE BACK THEN"

He asked: 'Did you like it?' I said: 'I liked it very much.' 'How was Atatürk portrayed?' I said: 'Very beautifully. My eyes were teary, I cried three times,' I said. He said, 'I will tell you a secret. It is entrusted to your honor.' I said: 'It is my duty.' He said: 'You will not tell anyone until I die.' I said: 'It's a promise.' He said: 'I wrote the screenplay for that movie.' I said: 'I said: 'Then why didn't you put your name on the poster?' He said: 'Back then, of course, they weren't caressing Sırrı Bey's picture back then. They were throwing Sırrı Bey from one prison to another. They were persecuting Sırrı Bey, may he rest in peace. They were demonizing him. They were giving him sentences for praising a terrorist organization.' He said: 'If they write my name, it would be a disservice to the actors, the workers, the laborers who worked on the film. They would badmouth the film. They would say, 'Sırrı made it,' and find faults. Keep this with you. Whenever I die, then you can tell this.' I said, 'Why is it entrusted to me?' 'Well, I've portrayed the party's first chairman, and I'm entrusting it to the last one. Who else would I entrust it to?' he said. 'Who else?' Now, regarding this situation of Ahmet Özer, regarding the issue of you electing someone and them appointing a trustee, Sırrı Bey used to say, he always said: 'In this country, Kurds are telling the truth. Those who speak the truth are right. In this country, Kurds can be anything.' 'It happens, brother,' he said. 'Anything can happen. A Kurd can be a minister. A Kurd can be prime minister. A president can be a Kurd. A Chief of General Staff can be a Kurd. The only thing Kurds cannot be is Kurdish,' he said. 'They cannot be Kurdish.' If a Kurd speaks of their Kurdishness, if a Kurd comes to a position as a Kurd, then they don't give them peace,' he said. We have come to this square together to find peace against those who disturb that peace.

And on March 19, March 19, a similar coup was carried out this time against Turkey's most well-known metropolis, its largest city. They couldn't digest Istanbul three times, the first in 2019, they canceled his mandate. 60 days later, this time he governed for 5 years with a margin of 806,000 votes. He governed for 5 years with 300 inspectors next to his office, and they couldn't find a single speck of fault. They seized the corruption files he found from the previous period, they didn't take action, but they couldn't find a single fault in his own term either. They put a prime minister against him, Binali Yıldırım, even while he was the speaker of the parliament, they didn't succeed.

They put the Minister of Urbanization and said, 'He understands this business best,' but they couldn't convince the people of Istanbul. Because of indigestion, they wanted to appoint a trustee to the will of Istanbul against Mayor Ekrem, who won Istanbul with a margin of 1,100,000 votes, believing his own words, 'Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey, wins Turkey.' They launched a terror investigation. The crime, the crime, is putting Kurds in the west into municipal councils to have a say in the administration, that's how they wrote it.

If this is a crime, all of us, all the members of the Republican People's Party, take full responsibility for this crime together! Of course, we did not believe in this coup, in this terrorist label, or in the slanders regarding financial matters. The nation did not believe it. The nation opened its eyes and ears on this issue and tried to listen. We resisted with a great struggle against all the lies and slanders from TRT and pro-government channels, and we tried to tell the truth. So much so that when this coup attempt happened, we ran, we went to Saraçhane, we entered the building, and we resisted the possibility of a trustee for 7 days and 7 nights without leaving that building.

We could not have succeeded if we had stood there alone. This work could not have been done with just members of parliament or just municipal council members. We said that despite the ban on demonstrations, there was almost a curfew. The bridges leading to the Historical Peninsula were removed, incoming ferry services were stopped, metro stations were closed, and in a 10-kilometer radius, we said, "Whatever is going to happen, it will happen today, this evening." Hundreds of thousands, millions of people of all ages, especially the youth, who defended democracy and their will, came to Saraçhane for 7 days and 7 nights, resisted, and repelled the coup and the coup plotters. Cheers to Saraçhane! Cheers to those who defend democracy! Since that day, after crossing the bridge and holding a rally there for 7 days, we crossed the bridge and held the largest rally in history with 2.2 million people in Maltepe, and then moved on to Anatolia. Since that day, we have been in an Istanbul district on Wednesday evenings—the night of the Wednesday when the coup took place—and in a corner of Anatolia on Saturdays or Sundays.

We are continuing this struggle not by looking at the strength of the CHP, but by going to Yozgat where we received 1.2% of the vote, by rushing to Van where we missed out on a parliamentary seat by a small margin, by going to the Aegean, and by holding rallies in Konya in Central Anatolia. And from all these squares, we shout together: We want freedom for President Ekrem and our friends. Ekrem İmamoğlu must be released. He must be tried without arrest. If you have the courage, the trial should be broadcast on TRT! I challenge you!

In the squares, we are not only demanding freedom for President Ekrem and the members of the Republican People's Party, but we are demanding that all political prisoners, regardless of their political views, be released as soon as possible. We also defend the freedom of Selahattin Demirtaş. This beautiful square, Van, loves Selahattin Demirtaş. While President Zeydan kept him company in his cell for 5 years along with the President, Van has also been one of the provinces that has embraced President Selahattin the most in its heart. Greetings to President Selahattin! However, we defend the freedom of not only President Selahattin, but also President Ekrem, our imprisoned mayors, municipal council members, Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, and all political prisoners. Because we have something like this over our heads: I have told this in every square, and I will continue to tell it. When we first went out to Saraçhane, both the 'Zafer' youth and the 'DEM' youth were there. One was applauding the freedom of President Selahattin, the other the freedom of President Ümit. One was grumbling at the other's, and the other at the first's. But there was someone above, who had taken both of their presidents. When one side rejoiced at theirs, he rejoiced too. When the other side rejoiced at theirs, he rejoiced too. Both of them were losing, and he was always winning. To break this game, we shouted: "There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us! There is no salvation, either all together! There is no salvation alone, either all together!"

The coup he carried out has inflicted 27,000 wounds on each and every one of us so far. It has cost 86 million people 27,000, from the baby in the cradle to the bedridden grandmother. With the money spent on this coup, all the debts of farmers, all farmers in Turkey, to banks could be closed with interest, and half of the money would still remain. You could give every farmer as much money as their debt. With this money, you could give retirees not 14,000, but 30,000, and you could do this for 10 years. With this money, my uncle and aunt in Van complain about the lack of hospitals; you could build 200 fully equipped hospitals with 800 beds each. With this money, 4 grams of gold could be bought with the loan Ecevit gave, which they didn't like, and which they gave as a 3,000 loan from the Credit and Dormitories Institution. You can't buy 1 gram of gold with 3,000, 4,000 grams of gold. You can increase the KYK loan from 3,000 to 30,000 per month for all students, to 30,000. That is why we are in Van, where the unemployment problem in Turkey is huge, but in Van, it is exactly twice as bad, exactly twice as bad. And in Van, the pearl of the East, the city of the sun, Van, while it has been said in vain on the shores of Lake Van, "Van in the world, faith in the hereafter," unfortunately, this beautiful city established on the shores of Lake Van has been neglected for years. It is completely behind the national average in education and health, in the worst places. Van is among the bottom five in terms of per capita national income. Look, per capita national income in Turkey is low, we are poor, but the Turkey average is three, and Van's is one. One-third of Turkey's average. In this city where its will is not respected, unfortunately, poverty and unemployment are far, far above even Turkey's levels. And they don't keep any of the promises they made to Van, and while the people of Van are struggling on their own, I met those who make the people of Van smile in front of the hotel while coming here today. Vanspor, the lions of Vanspor, the heroic Vanspor fans! Hold on, President, hold on so they can see! They are playing in the play-offs in the second league. They will win their matches, they will be promoted to the first league. And we will applaud Van's success with all our hearts.

"This provincial chairman of mine was our parliamentary candidate. They stole his rights with 160-170 votes. They made 18,000, 18,000 invalid votes. They were going to recount, they were going to rig the count. The government withdrew, they stole his rights, but he is fighting. Support him, support the party, we will get our rights sooner or later."

STATEMENT ON THE İMRALI PROCESS

Now, as we come to the end of the main issue, let me say something about the process that is talked about a lot these days, which they haven't named, which they don't even call a "Solution Process," and which they can't call a "Peace Process." When President Sırrı came and explained it, I said to the late one, "What shall we call this?" He said: "It has no name." I said, "Then how will we proceed?" He said: "We tried last time, we struggled, and we got into trouble, but I won't give up, I'm continuing. Last time we said, 'First solution, then peace,' it didn't work. Now we say, 'First peace, then solution.'" I said: "President Sırrı, can it be like this? Is there a guarantor for this business?" He said: "There is no guarantor or anything. You are the guarantor, I am the guarantor. Whoever owns this process, we are the guarantors of this process. Those who defend peace without expecting any benefit will be the guarantors of this process," he said. Now, now we are going through such days that these lands have gone through many storms. War struck, floods struck, earthquakes struck, but nothing has struck this geography as much as injustice and inequality. For a while, this new process has been moving forward. We have never been among those who deny the Kurdish issue; we have always stood in the right place, in the right place of history. We have argued from the very beginning that this problem exists and that it must be solved. We have advocated that it should be solved sincerely, transparently, based on social consensus, on the floor of the Parliament, with the common consent and agreement of the victims, the families of martyrs, veterans, and everyone who has been harmed in this process, and that the tears of mothers should stop. We established our own commission in our party. They worked, they prepared, and they continue to work. We have supported every sincere step taken and to be taken for the end of terrorism and the arrival of peace, which is not aimed at deception, fraud, or bargaining, and we will continue to support it from now on. Let us applaud Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who spent his life on the path of peace, with all our hearts here so that it may touch his soul. All citizens of this country are equal shareholders of the republic. The saying "Turks and Kurds lie side by side, breast to breast in Çanakkale" is not a metaphor. When you go and see, we see how a Turk and a Kurd share a grave. Therefore, we said that those who do not take steps on this issue, those who stood against it for years, instead of embarrassing them and reminding them of their inconsistency, injustice, and poisonous language of the past when they take a step, on the contrary, every step taken is valuable. We even said: "We will contribute. We will promise a state to the Kurds." While they were cutting and pasting this and turning it into a lie, we saw something like this, something like this.

CHP Van Provincial Chairman Seracettin Bedirhanoğlu read the letter from the IMM President and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is in Silivri, to the people of Van:

Greetings to the brave and determined hearts on the shores of Lake Van! I send my deepest greetings to all of you from Silivri Prison, which I see as a stop on the path to bringing hope to Turkey. My heart wished to be with you in the squares where we meet today. Those who deny Turkey the rule of law and disregard the will of the people have prevented this. Even if their rulings are sufficient for now, they do not have the power to diminish the prayers in our nation's heart or our place. To the elderly, the young, the women, the men, and the noble children of Van who fill this square, I thank you all infinitely for your courage, your hope, and your determination. Together, we will overcome these dark days we are being forced to live through. I believe this with all my heart. The voice of justice, equality, and freedom is rising today on the shores of Lake Van. Let those who try to silence this voice and suppress this will know that they will not succeed. Those who conspire against the will of the people all over Turkey are representatives of the same mindset. Those who flee from fair competition, consumed by the ambition to protect their seats, try to intimidate the nation with pressure in Van, Istanbul, and everywhere in Turkey without blinking at any lawlessness. We know what they did to Van. We know how they tried to make the AK Party candidate president even though they couldn't win the election, why they appointed a trustee to Van, and under what kind of state of emergency regime Van is governed. It won't be long; the chains will be broken. Those who undermine the nation's will shall go, and our branches will flourish. When those who deny this smile to this noble nation are gone, Van's face will smile, dear friends.

The fate of Istanbul and the fate of Van are one. You know who they attacked first among us when they set up all kinds of conspiracies against Istanbul, Van, and Turkey. Our Erciş Mayor, Mr. Ahmet Özer, is in prison because of the unlawful conspiracies of these coup-plotters, whose hands and feet are tangled in their fear of losing. We are impatiently waiting for the freedom of our mayor, Mr. Ahmet Özer, a son of Van who has worked in academia for years for the country, educated our children, and worked for the democratization of Turkey and the development of Erciş and Van. This absurd order will end with our collective struggle. We will walk together toward peace, hope, and Turkey's beautiful future. This voice rising in the squares of Van is echoing in the squares of Istanbul and in every corner of Anatolia. The voice of the nation is rising without heeding any pressure or obstacle.

Seraf Özer, daughter of the imprisoned Van-born Mayor of Istanbul Esenyurt, Ahmet Özer:

And I am reading the letter of my precious father, Professor Doctor Ahmet Özer. City of the sun, brave hearts of the ancient land where I was born, soulmates of Ahmedi Hani, friends of Fakih-i Teyran. Hun bihar hatin, ser sara ser çava hatin.

Our dear people, my precious brothers and sisters, I am writing these lines to you from my cell in Silivri. My body is in Silivri, but my heart beats with you in the Van square. Because they can imprison our bodies, but never our spirits! My dear fellow citizens, they took me in a dawn operation and put me in the Silivri dungeon. They appointed a trustee to the Erciş municipality, where I was mayor. They usurped the will of the people. They could not stomach a Kurdish man from Van governing Turkey's largest district. They are putting us on trial because we gave Kurds in the west the right to representation. If Kurds have gained the right to representation in Erciş, where 100,000 people from Van live, we can only be proud of it. They conspired against us because the Republican People's Party gave Kurds the right to representation. They are terrorizing the Democratic Power Union. They say Kurds cannot represent themselves in the west. Yet, the first condition of democracy is representation and justice. If justice and representation are weakened, the state is weakened. My dear fellow citizens, those who constantly talk about national will have also disregarded your will. They removed our valuable mayors of Van, Mayor Abdullah Zeydan and Mayor Necmettin, from their duties and appointed trustees in their place. They usurped the will of the people of Van. But just as in the past, we will not allow this injustice today either. We will fight hand in hand for this. Because he who remains silent against injustice is a mute devil. We will never be mute devils.

"EKREM İMAMOĞLU, THE NIGHTMARE OF THE GOVERNMENT"

I am standing tall in my cell in the Silivri dungeon. I am continuing my struggle on behalf of us all. As a fellow citizen who always holds his head high, I have never embarrassed you and I will never, ever embarrass you. I will always be a brother you can be proud of.

My dear brothers and sisters, today the leader of our struggle for justice and freedom, our Chairman Mr. Özgür Özel, is with you. Today, the heart of our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, the nightmare of the government, is with you. Together with our Mayor Bekir Kaya, with whom I was imprisoned in Silivri, our hearts beat with you. A thousand greetings to Van, a thousand greetings to the heroic people of Tuşba, all together.

"WE WILL SOLVE THE KURDISH QUESTION"

My brothers and sisters, this government has neglected our Van for years. It has condemned the people of Van to unemployment and poverty. With their wrong and biased policies, they have destroyed livestock and agriculture. They made us forget the beautiful Lake Van, the legendary Akdamar, the ancient Van Castle, and the Muradiye Waterfall, where I was born and raised. They ignored the historical and touristic values of our Van. They finished off its beauty and tourism. But do not worry. When the darkness deepens, the dawn is about to break. We are at the dawn of our country's democracy. We will elect Mr. İmamoğlu, with whom I was imprisoned in the Silivri dungeon and with whom I am honored to be a companion, as President. I wholeheartedly believe that İmamoğlu will be elected in the first election with your support as well. We will put an end to injustice, lawlessness, and unfairness. We will end poverty and bans together. We will solve the Kurdish question, which has been left in limbo by the government for years, we will!

"THE PEACE PROCESS MUST DEFINITELY RESULT IN SUCCESS"

The ongoing peace process must definitely result in success. A dignified and lasting peace must be built. The Kurdish question must be solved in a democratic manner. Dear friends, together with Mayor Ekrem, we will connect the bridge of hearts we have built with Van to a bridge of service. They could not stomach us working together. They overturned the service table we established. But we are determined, we will definitely continue this. At the dawn of our country's democracy, we will be together in production, distribution, and free days. We will put an end to this tyrannical, despotic order. We will overcome the ill-fated destiny of Van, which has not changed for years, all together. Continue the struggle! A thousand greetings to Van, to my roots, to my fellow citizens. Silivri No. 9, Professor Doctor Ahmet Özer, the elected mayor of Erciş.