Call to citizens from Ekrem İmamoğlu: 'These are times to take responsibility...'
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whose diploma was revoked and who was detained on various charges including founding a criminal organization, issued a call for a primary election to all CHP members in a statement on his X account. İmamoğlu said, 'I trust our nation in these days full of responsibility.'
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Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu shared a post on his X account. İmamoğlu, who was detained following the revocation of his diploma and is also under investigation due to the 'city consensus' probe, used the following expressions in his post.
CALL FOR PRIMARY ELECTION FROM İMAMOĞLU
Our very precious citizens, our fellow residents;
I am grateful to you. Our nation is wholeheartedly protecting everything that belongs to it. We must continue to protect it. You are protecting our Republic, democracy, the future of a fair Turkey, and the will of our nation; I am honored, I am proud.
The way our nation takes responsibility continues to inspire the whole world. These are times to take responsibility. In the future, we will reach the days when our nation will claim all its rights, democracy will reach its highest level, the rule of law will be fully experienced, and we will all live together in a 21st-century Turkey that equalizes its 86 million people.
I know that in these days full of responsibility, you will be in Saraçhane this evening as well. And you will sing songs and folk tunes that herald the spring.
Tomorrow, Sunday, March 23, all Republican People's Party (CHP) members will vote for me as their presidential candidate.
I invite all my fellow party members to the ballot box without exception. In addition, ballot boxes will be set up for all our citizens, alongside those for our party members, all over Turkey. I invite all our citizens to be a part of this great enthusiasm.
Finally;
Children and young people, even if you do not have the right to vote, I am waiting for your creative feelings, your words, and your slogans to reach me in the same place.
The nation is great. Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation.
This difficult and arduous process is entrusted to our nation.
Respectfully,
Ekrem İmamoğlu
Çok kıymetli vatandaşlarımız, hemşehrilerimiz;
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) March 22, 2025
Sizlere minnet duyuyorum. Milletimiz kendisine ait olan her şeye yürekten sahip çıkıyor. Sahip çıkmaya devam etmeliyiz. Cumhuriyetimize, demokrasiye, adil Türkiye'nin geleceğine, milletimizin iradesine sahip çıkıyorsunuz; onur…
WHAT HAPPENED?
Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained on charges of founding a criminal organization, extortion, bribery, qualified fraud, cooperation with a terrorist organization, and corruption. Within the scope of the same operation, more than 100 people, including İmamoğlu's advisor Murat Ongun and several district mayors, were also detained.