BREAKING NEWS... Ekrem İmamoğlu speaks in Antalya: We absolutely need a new beginning

IBB and TBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu moved on to Adana today following his work in Izmir and Kayseri yesterday. After delivering several messages regarding the agenda in Adana, İmamoğlu traveled to Antalya.

CHP's İmamoğlu took the stage in Antalya with the title of presidential candidate, accompanied by a song written for him, and addressed party members and supporters as follows:

"If smoke is rising in the Taurus Mountains, no one should doubt the future of this country. I greet you all with respect. We are going through a difficult struggle. During the holy month of Ramadan, we pray for a beautiful month for everyone. I congratulate each and every one of you—our youth, women, and gentlemen—on the month of Ramadan.

They have abandoned morality, honesty, and earning an honest living; they have forgotten the principle of 'Service to the people is service to God,' and they tell the citizens, 'It is forbidden.' Those who pass themselves off as 'economy experts' have ruined the nation's livelihood. They have brought agriculture and production to the point of collapse. Antalya has also had its share of this. It has become the province with the highest increase in real estate and rent in Türkiye. Every time I come, our mayor shares the debt burden of the Expo area. This is the mindset of 'I know everything.' They didn't just do this to Antalya. First, they made those who bought houses for 250 thousand dollars citizens, then for 400 thousand dollars. They turned our country's citizenship into a commercial product. Those who bought these houses sold them three years later for a profit. I am against this. I am against citizens of other countries making money through Turkish citizenship. In the past, a civil servant assigned to Antalya would be happy because they were going to a city with a high level of prosperity. Now, they are saddened, thinking, 'How will I pay that much rent?'"

MESSAGE OF RENEWAL

We absolutely need a new beginning. We need a new development plan. As a country, we have become stuck, spinning our wheels city by city and sector by sector. We must set out immediately. This beautiful country has great potential in the field of technology, in addition to tourism and agriculture..."

"WHERE DOES SUCH A PRACTICE EXIST?"

"I have now learned that they are calling our colleagues from the Police Department and saying, 'The Prosecutor's Office is calling you for an interview,'" said İmamoğlu, explaining the meeting with these words:

"When our friends call my lawyer and say they are coming, they tell them, 'There is no need for a lawyer, it's just a chat.' What do you mean there is no need for a lawyer! Where does such a practice exist! Look, when our friend insists on going to the courthouse with a lawyer, the police officer who issued the invitation becomes unreachable!

The phone number belongs to the Police Department on Vatan Street. Weren't we a state of law, Mr. Minister of Justice? With your identity as a legal expert, ask yourself which practice allows for a prosecutor's interview without a lawyer! They have completely lost their way! What they are doing wouldn't even occur to the devil, the devil himself!"

"THOSE WHO DO NOT TILL THE SOIL COMMIT A CRIME"

Highlights from İmamoğlu's speech are as follows:

"Those who claim to be economy experts have ruined the nation's livelihood. The government has forgotten the saying that service to the people is service to God. No one should doubt the future of this country.

I am against the sale of citizenship. They have turned our country's citizenship into a commercial product. We will move toward bright days with a model that enriches Türkiye. Those who do not till the soil commit a crime. Those who cannot protect their soil cannot protect their country. Tourism revenues are not shared with local governments.

"AS WE GET CLOSER TO SUCCESS, THE GOVERNMENT'S OPPRESSION INCREASES"

Our party's decision for a primary election is a democratic revolution. We are setting out on the path to power. We will dash their hopes for politics without the people.

The justice system has collapsed. Parliament is now almost dysfunctional; everyone wants justice. As we get closer to success, the government's oppression increases. May a stone fall on İmamoğlu's head (a Turkish idiom expressing 'I wish they would leave me alone'). They think I am afraid. Let those who are afraid of them be like them. I trust first in God, then in my nation. If you have a problem, I am here; come to me. Stop threatening the nation, come, let's go to the nation; I am here.

"YOU WANT TO ENTER THE ELECTION WITHOUT IMAMOGLU"

I am saying it clearly: you want to enter the election without İmamoğlu. The race would not be legitimate without İmamoğlu. With these judicial harassments, the election will be neither free nor fair. Our only crime is having defeated them four times. That ballot box will come, and this nation will send you home, whether you like it or not."