İmamoğlu to Göksu: He will be retired in a few months

IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu took a 15-minute break from the session after presenting the budget to the IMM Assembly.

Budget discussions continued after the break, and İmamoğlu presided over the remainder of the session. The session continued with speeches regarding the budget on behalf of political groups.

"YOU WILL BE ON VACATION"

AKP Group Deputy Chairman Tevfik Göksu began his budget speech by referencing IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu's remarks directed at the AKP group: "I underline that our friends, whose motivation has dropped and who will likely vacate their seats next year, listening to this budget with nearly 70 percent missing is an indicator of their motivation for the second term."

Göksu said, "The IMM Mayor passed the ball to me at the end of his speech, so let me score a goal. This group will be here in the strongest way in 2024, but you will be on the vacation you love so much."

When he stated that the money coming to the IMM from the central budget had increased 12-fold and constituted the majority of the budget, CHP council members reacted to Göksu by saying, "That is the money of the people of Istanbul."

Göksu claimed that as of September 2023, the IMM had a definitive debt of 98.9 billion TL, and when the debts of IETT and ISKI are added, the debt that will be recorded at the end of the year will rise to 199 billion TL. Stating that the debt would have increased even further by the end of the administration's term, Göksu told İmamoğlu, "You will go on vacation having incurred 246.9 billion in debt by the end of the term." Claiming that the IMM's report card on transportation, earthquakes, water, and the environment is zero, Göksu leveled harsh criticisms at İmamoğlu.

"YOU WASTED 5 YEARS OF ISTANBUL"

Göksu said the following:

*We are discussing the final budget of the IMM. He has kept 6 percent of the promises he made in election squares. The IMM Mayor had said, 'Send away those who do not keep their word.' I am telling the dear people of Istanbul; send away those who do not keep their word.

*His first priority was never Istanbul. He cared about his own political career, not Istanbul. Just to design the CHP, 8,643 workers were hired by the IMM during the congress process, that is, in the last 4 months. Your own candidate also said this.

*He wanted to be a presidential candidate, he could only be a vice-presidential candidate. He wanted to be the CHP Chairman, he finally became the co-chairman of the CHP, but he could not be the IMM Mayor. A few hours after the election, he moved from a father-son relationship with Kılıçdaroğlu to a dagger relationship.

*Who became the CHP chairman, what do I care? You ate each other, what do I care? What concerns me is that the resources of the IMM are being used to design the CHP. You have a debt to this city; you wasted 5 years of it.

*On March 31, with God's permission, the people of Istanbul will hold you accountable both at the ballot box and before history. On March 31, 2024, there will be an AK Party mayor in that seat, and we will do my IMM Mayor a great favor and send him on vacation.

İMAMOĞLU TO GÖKSU: HE WILL BE RETIRED IN A FEW MONTHS

İmamoğlu, who was presiding over the session, replied to Göksu: "Even if there are hurtful things in his speech, I will not take them as a subject because they are empty accusations fired into the air, and I will not deign to respond. Bad words belong to the speaker. They are not very meaningful words either. I suppose he will be retired in a few months. May his path be clear, that is how it appears. I see hopelessness on his face. Still, we have bid farewell to them with good memories. May his path be clear, we wish him success."