Ekrem İmamoğlu responds to IETT criticisms! 'The President was also an IETT employee'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu spoke at the IETT Academy Graduation Ceremony.

Responding to criticisms regarding public transportation, İmamoğlu said, "Transportation has become very difficult under current conditions. There are two extremes in our country. One is that we are experiencing a period of very expensive and very high costs. Turkey has never been at such an extreme in any period. You know this from your homes and your lives. In other words, we have never experienced a period with such high costs economically."

'THE PRESIDENT OF THIS COUNTRY WAS ALSO AN IETT EMPLOYEE'

Stating, "It is not that we haven't detected them filming videos while buses are burning," İmamoğlu used the following expressions:

"But we will overcome these, we will overcome these evils too. Every day, every day, those who disparage IETT, who try to destroy IETT—meaning those who try to destroy it to beat Ekrem İmamoğlu because they lost Istanbul—are actually insulting their own essence. For example, the President of this country was also an IETT employee one day, wasn't he? So he is disparaging his own situation. Therefore, it is a shame, it is a sin. IETT, in our period, is more successful than the previous period in terms of both breakdowns and accidents, and in many other respects, let me say that."

'A PERCEPTION IS BEING CREATED'

Saying, "Is a perception being created? It is being created," İmamoğlu continued as follows:

"I mean, are news reports being given to newspapers every day, to television stations every day? They are. But what they are really doing a disservice to is the name of the institution, the name of IETT; it is shameful, don't do it. IETT is not mine; it is yours, it is all of ours, it is the nation's, it is a shame. A person does not disparage an institution that belongs to them. Throw our mistakes in our faces. There is no problem with that. But let's sit down and look at the statistics. Do we have shortcomings? We do. Are we obliged to do better? We are. Must we catch up on these? We must. But politics is not everything, the seat is not everything. Some people think the seat belongs to them. Once and for all, we are all mortal. I mean, life comes and goes."