İmamoğlu responds to Erdoğan's metro claims on live broadcast: 'If the metros had been left to you...'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu participated in a live broadcast on Sözcü TV to respond to allegations made against him.

İmamoğlu responded to President Erdoğan's claims that "all existing metros in Istanbul belong to us" and allegations regarding "three villas in Emirgan."

"THERE IS NO IRREGULAR BUSINESS"

Ekrem İmamoğlu stated the following:

"They call it a shell company, İmamoğlu İnşaat. This company is a family business that has been involved in trade for almost 3 generations. There are also good anecdotes in the history of this company. It is an organization that started in Trabzon, continued in Istanbul Beylikdüzü, and has entered the rankings of tax record holders.

"WE HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE"

I have been a BAĞ-KUR member for almost 35 years. It is a company that has employed thousands of people. İmamoğlu İnşaat engages in trade. It has no business with the public, it has no irregular business. I declared my wife's assets as well, even though it was not necessary, in addition to my personal assets. At the same time, I am a person who has shares in the company. This is also in my previous declarations. We have nothing to hide."

"WHEN WE ARRIVED, THERE WAS A TEAM THAT HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT URBAN TRANSFORMATION"

When we arrived, there was a team that had forgotten about urban transformation; they had no such world. KİPTAŞ was building luxury residences. TOKİ was already doing nothing but luxury residences. 'We will solve urban transformation...' The state was yours, the Ministry was yours, the İBB was yours, almost 30 of the district municipalities were yours, so what did you do... But you created Fikirtepe in the name of urban transformation.

"THERE WAS A METRO LINE AT 0 PERCENT"

There was a metro line that was at 0 percent. (Mahmutbey-Esenyurt) It has now reached 40 percent... We carried out some projects by pulling rabbits out of a hat.... The metros we opened just last week are 18 km. Along with this, 65 km... We actually built 81 km, not 65 km. As Mr. Erdoğan says, “We built all the metros.” Well, if these metros had been left to you, this city would be a metro graveyard right now.

"MATHEMATICS DOES NOT SURPRISE, MURAT KURUM SURPRISES"

Mr. Kurum certified in a program that we built 65 km of metro by subtracting the total metro built by the Ministry of Transport. So the problem is here; Mathematics, Murat Kurum... There is a difference between the two. Mathematics does not surprise, Murat Kurum surprises.

"THERE MUST BE REASONS FOR AUDITS"

After all, we are a public institution, of course we should be audited. But there must be reasons for the audits. I am not saying that all of these are without reason, but sometimes a minister makes a statement and the next day you see inspectors arriving. Or the President makes a statement and here comes another team.

"SAYIŞTAY AUDITS ATTACKED DURING OUR TERM"

There are routine audits here, those routine audits that also come to us, the routine audits before us... When you take them out, the period before us is almost non-existent. Moreover, the Court of Accounts (Sayıştay) has never come to the subsidiaries for years. During our term, the Court of Accounts audit, so to speak, launched an attack on our subsidiaries.

"THE BIGGEST INVESTIGATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC"

At the end of the day, I say this with peace of mind; 5 days before the election, the result revealed by these 5 years is this; there is nothing there, they could not find anything. At the end of 5 years, I am happy. No one can say we could not investigate Ekrem İmamoğlu. By God, we have gone through the biggest investigation in the history of the Republic.

"I WANT TO REMAIN SILENT SO AS NOT TO INVITE THE EVIL EYE"

We will win the majority in the assembly. We are not having any problems in our 14 districts. We are very ambitious in 14 more districts. If I talk about more than that, the evil eye... I believe in the evil eye a little bit. I want to remain silent here so as not to invite the evil eye. Even if you force me, I will not give the name of a single district... Because all our district candidates are working ambitiously.

"I TORE MYSELF APART"

My heart feels that all 39 of the 39 districts will give us a medal. They will give it in Sultanbeyli and Pendik too. I don't know how they will give it. This does not mean that I am talking about a claim that we will win all 39 out of 39. They will reward us in some way. Because I tore myself apart to equalize the child in Bağcılar with the one in Beşiktaş. Or I tore myself apart to equalize a mother in Arnavutköy with another one in our province.

"'I DO NOT ACCEPT ANY OF YOUR EGOS"

While the time has come; we promised an egalitarian, moral period that shows equal service in all 39 districts and does not discriminate against any municipality because of its party. In that respect, excuse me, but this strong alliance we have established must continue without breaking. “I ran as an independent candidate.” Excuse me, brother, I do not accept it. I do not accept any of your egos. I do not accept any of your justifications. Its name is Sarıyer, or another place, I do not accept it.