Ekrem İmamoğlu kicks off election marathon: I am not curious about their candidate at all

Turkey will head to the polls for local elections on March 31, 2024.

Istanbul is at the top of the list of cities where the local elections are most anticipated. The Republican People's Party (CHP) held its candidate introduction launch today at the Haliç Congress Center in Istanbul.

Re-running for office, IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu launched his election campaign with the slogan "Full speed ahead."

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik also attended the launch.

Full Speed Ahead in Service to Istanbul https://t.co/nIvZZgw1wf

— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) January 5, 2024

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik began the first speech on the podium.

Çelik used the following expressions in his speech:

"Today, we will set out on this journey together once again. Since 2019, Istanbul has been governed with an egalitarian, populist management approach. Under Mr. İmamoğlu's leadership, great work has been accomplished in 4.5 years. This struggle took place despite all the obstacles. We fought a great battle for democracy together.

Our Metropolitan Mayor continues to serve the people of Istanbul with subways, transportation, nurseries, scholarships, and mother cards. Instead of being opened for zoning, green spaces are being transformed into living spaces. We will not be competing under equal conditions in this election either. They will again use all public resources. They will polarize the public through press and media organizations. They will again engage in activities with fake brochures. The CHP is the name of the only political tradition that has established the order and the state. We will definitely win, we will definitely win!"

Concluding his speech on the podium, Çelik handed the floor to Chairman Özgür Özel.

Highlights from Özel's statements are as follows:

"Valuable representatives of a happy Istanbul of 16 million, welcome all. Today, we are together in Istanbul, the sultan of cities, the city that Napoleon said he would make the capital if the world were given to him, the city where Fatih Sultan Mehmet opened and closed an era, the city that Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk called the jewel of this country, to ensure that Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has served for five years, serves for another five years.

ÖZEL'S EMPHASIS ON THE CONSTITUTION

For a country to exist, its army must protect its borders and it must have a contract. We have a contract. We do not have a constitution that we all agree on, but we have a constitution whose first four articles we agree on. That constitution binds us all until it is changed. If you ignore one article of that constitution, you accept the debate of someone else ignoring another article. While Article 153 of the Constitution states that the Constitutional Court's decision is binding, five people, upon someone's instruction, tore up that page of the Constitution.

This would mean accepting someone else ignoring Article 75 of the Constitution. Someone else will come and discard Article 101 of the Constitution. That means the President does not exist. In other words, some have come and are trying to dismantle the foundations of the state.

CHP LEADER ÖZEL SENT GREETINGS TO ATALAY AND KAVALA

There are representatives of two great families here. One is the Republican People's Party family, the other is the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. These two families have a common child: Tayfun Kahraman. Here, in the person of Tayfun Kahraman, I would like to greet Can Atalay, Osman Kavala, and Çiğdem Mater.

'DO NOT DEMOLISH THE AKM AND BUILD A MALL IN ITS PLACE'

These people each took part in the Gezi Platform as managers of the professional groups they represented. These people wanted to meet with the prime minister of the time. They made an effort so that not one more person's nose would bleed in Gezi. They asked for six points for this. What were they asking for: They were saying do not cut down the trees. They were saying do not cut down Gezi Park and build the Artillery Barracks in its place, do not demolish the AKM and build a mall in its place, do not throw young people into detention centers.

If Gezi Park is still standing today, it is thanks to Mücella Yapıcı, thanks to Can Atalay, thanks to Mine Özerden. If the AKM stands as the AKM today, it is thanks to our friends.

'THEY SAY THEY WON'T RELEASE THEM EVEN IF THE COURT DOES'

Now they say these people tried to stage a coup against us. They say they won't release them even if the court does. They say I decide everything. But Istanbul's two distinguished teams will play the final derby of the 100th year. They take them and bring them to Riyadh.

As if they didn't know, they don't go to Anıtkabir when they arrive. As if they didn't know, they are taking the final derby that Istanbul, Izmir, and Turkey deserve to a place where they are hesitant to even say 'Hello soldier' in Turkish—that is, to even respectfully utter the Turkish language—and they intend to shamelessly make Gazi Mustafa Kemal a subject of bargaining there, and then when we come out and ask 'You are responsible for everything, why are you not responsible for this?', they make them issue a statement.

'YOU ARE ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS INSOLENCE, ERDOĞAN'

Our President has no involvement in this, they say we asked the clubs and we did it. If you have no involvement, take your hands off Gezi, if you have no involvement, take your hands off the children of this nation. If you know everything, then you are the one who took that match there, and you are also the one responsible for the insolence of saying we don't want those Saudis, we won't let the National Anthem be read, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

'WE ARE THE PARTY THAT BROUGHT SOCIAL MUNICIPALISM'

We are the party that first brought independence to this country. Then we are the party that brought the multi-party regime and the parliamentary regime to this country. Then we are the party that brought the concept of a social state and social municipalism to this country. From urban transformation to mass housing projects, from subways to metrobuses, from light rail systems to biological treatment plants, which were first introduced by local governments in Turkey, most of them today are the works of social democratic CHP mayors and their committed staff who are not in this hall. The foundation of the first subway in Istanbul was laid by Nurettin Sözen in 1991, and in Izmir by Yüksel Çakmur.

'WE WILL CUT OFF THE HOSES, WE WILL CUT OFF THE WASTE'

We said when we come, we will cut off the waste, we will cut off the hoses, and instead of serving a small class, we will spread the service to 16 million. While some continue to talk about spreading the tax base while taking 89 percent of taxes from the poor and 11 percent from the wealthy, we spread the service to the base, to Istanbul, to 16 million people, and prevented certain interest groups from sucking the blood of Istanbul anymore."

Following his speech, Özel left the floor to IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME FOR İMAMOĞLU

Participants in the hall chanted slogans saying 'Istanbul to İmamoğlu again' as İmamoğlu was about to take the floor.

Highlights from İmamoğlu's statements are as follows:

"Mustafa Kemal Atatürk says in his 10th-year speech: We have done great and important things in a short time. And then he continues: But we never consider what we have done sufficient. Because we are obliged and determined to do many more and greater things. Are you ready, Istanbul? With the inspiration we received from the great Atatürk, we have achieved great and important things in a short time. What we have achieved despite so many obstacles gives us confidence and courage.

'WE ACHIEVED A RADICAL CHANGE IN 2019'

With your will, we achieved a radical change in 2019. With your support, as we succeeded, they were forced to compare what they did in 25 years with our four and a half years every day, albeit clumsily and passionately. Believe me, this success is the success of all of us. I say with all my faith, we will continue to succeed as Istanbul.

'WE WILL WIN ISTANBUL AGAIN'

On March 31, 2024, with your will, we will win Istanbul again. And with God's permission, we will achieve greater things. Because we have developed immunity against obstacles. We produced service, we gained experience. Those obstructionist reflexes have shrunk and shrunk. They have turned into dust, we don't see them anymore. We now know much better how to achieve success.

'ISTANBUL BELONGS TO 16 MILLION, ISTANBUL BELONGS TO EVERYONE'

Istanbul is yours now. It has been saved from that one person who said 'Istanbul is mine.' Istanbul belongs to 16 million, Istanbul belongs to everyone. In the municipality we took over, subway projects had completely stopped. Some had been stalled for a year and a half. Some had not even been started despite being tendered in 2016, 2017. The affiliate companies were buried in tax debt and were banned from bidding. Today, our affiliates, which have become a brand of Turkey again with their bright names, unfortunately could not even enter the IMM's tender.

'THERE WAS ONLY SIX MILLION IN THE MUNICIPALITY'S COFFERS'

It was a municipality that had only six million liras left in its coffers. Do you know what six million liras means in 2019? It wasn't even the hourly expenditure of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

'WE HAVE IMPOVERISHED AS A NATION'

Of course, inflation, exchange rates, and unemployment have skyrocketed. We have impoverished as a nation. We, as the IMM, have also truly impoverished. The cost of every project we carry out has been increasing fourfold, fivefold in these periods. Tenders were canceled.

Due to the increasing crisis, contractors with less than 15 percent were canceling their jobs one by one with a circular issued by the government. While the cost of every project we carry out increased, because we ended the waste, we managed to finish twice the work they produced in this difficult period for half the budget they spent.

'WE NEVER WORE THAT JACKET WE TOOK OFF ON MAY 6'

(After Ekrem İmamoğlu took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves) My dear Chairman, we never wore that jacket we took off on May 6.

For the first time during our term, we provided scholarships to 300,000 university students and educational support to 350,000 primary and secondary school students. You know, for years they said the CHP is preventing us from giving scholarships. They are telling two kinds of lies. Let me tell you one: No, they are not preventing it. They gave scholarships. But how did they give them? They gave scholarships to very lucky people.

They gave 200,000 dollars, 150,000 dollars to some people and then made them members of parliament and party officials. We, on the other hand, gave 750 million liras to the children of this nation this year alone, at 7,500 liras per person to 100,000 people, as clean as their mother's milk.

We will not wear it until we are in power in Turkey! We also worked to make Istanbul greener. We added new green spaces. Earthquake-resistant construction processes have started rapidly.

'I AM NOT CURIOUS ABOUT THE CANDIDATE'

I am not curious about the candidate at all. Why are you curious? In summary, there is not a single citizen to whom we have not offered a new service or a new benefit, or whose quality and quantity of service they received in the past we have not increased. All of this happened with fair, populist, and democratic practices unprecedented in the history of Turkey. We acted with the consciousness of being the protector and guardian of Istanbul. Everyone should think about what would have happened if we hadn't been elected in 2019.

Resources turned toward the public would have continued to flow into the pockets of the representatives of the waste order. Instead of populist municipalism, if the 'I did it and it happened' municipalism had continued, they would have continued to plunder the environment.

'THOSE WHO SEEK APPROVAL TO EXTINGUISH A FIRE...'

My dear Chairman, you touched on this match issue. I cannot leave without saying this. A minister's statement was as follows: We mobilized the vehicles to extinguish the fire with the approval of our esteemed president. The mind that seeks approval to extinguish a fire will take two teams from here to Saudi Arabia. For God's sake, who believes this?

'A FEAST OF SERVICE WILL BEGIN IN ISTANBUL'

A feast of service will begin in Istanbul. Once your determined will is seen, the government will no longer be able to be stubborn with the citizens. We, too, without any political calculation, yes, we will work more and more closely with the government. There is no other way. No government can ignore the clear and explicit will of the country's largest city, and it will not be able to. If it ignores it, the nation will ignore them and send them away. That's why they will work with us.

This city will be the city of everyone who lives here. It will also be the city of non-Muslims. This city will also be the city of Kurds. This city will also be the city of the Ja'faris living in this city. The city of Bosniaks. Just as it is the city of our 86 million citizens. This city is the city of the Roma. Everyone living in this city will be the owner of this city.

'WE DO NOT LEAVE THE WORK WE STARTED HALFWAY'

Sefaköy-TÜYAP-Beylikdüzü subway line. Its credit is ready, its project is ready. It is waiting for a signature. Throughout the election, until that signature is signed, I will complain about the President and all the authorities to everyone from Bakırköy to Beylikdüzü, from Büyükçekmece to Avcılar, from Küçükçekmece to Başakşehir, where four million people live. One ink, one pen. We don't want atonement or anything! Just approval. In our first term, I admit that we could not give as much weight as we wanted to projects that would unleash Istanbul's creativity. In the new term, this is among our primary goals. We will all work together so that some of the world's creative capital flows to Istanbul. I claim that we will not leave the foundation we laid halfway for the 2027 European Games. We do not leave the work we started halfway. We will bring the 2036 Olympics to Istanbul!