İmamoğlu speaks in Ankara following meeting with Yavaş... Takes a jab at Erdoğan: 'The 'Ekrem' pains have begun'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu made statements in Ankara following his meeting with Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş.

Here are the highlights from İmamoğlu's statements:

- They tried to sell Ankara off piece by piece. The people of Ankara gave them the best answer.

- First of all, I send my love and greetings to our Mayor Mansur Yavaş. The same evil mind, the same corrupt mentality, has burdened us with a regime that disregards the Parliament. They have dismantled the constitutional order. We will give them the best answer to that in the upcoming general elections.

- We want the country to be governed by the Parliament, not the palace.

- We want ministers to be held accountable to the Parliament. Because the Parliament is the reflection of the national will.

-It is time for renewal. Time for change. Those whose batteries have run out will go. Their time has passed. Their era is over. And the 'Ekrem' pains have begun. Now, those who dedicate themselves to the nation will take office.

-The nation will bury this regime in the ground.

What did Erdoğan say?

When asked by journalists if retirees' holiday bonuses could be increased further, he said, "Are you trying to set me up?" Do you know what this mindset is? It is the manifestation of an action taken as if he were distributing his own money to the nation, rather than giving the nation's money to the nation. That question was not asked by a journalist, but by the nation asking through them.

He is not even aware of that. Millions of retirees are asking you every day, every hour: "Aren't you ashamed of bringing us to this state with the scarcity of these retirement pensions and these holiday bonuses?" What are we going to do with this mindset that describes giving the nation its due as being "set up"?

We will save this country. That ballot box will be placed before the nation on March 23. First, the Republican People's Party will show him his place. Is the Republican People's Party ready?

Then, are we, as a nation, ready to overturn and send away the one-man regime that condemns itself to poverty, that condemns the country to poverty, that disrupts the peace, abundance, and tranquility of the homeland, in the first upcoming general election?

Are we ready to march to Çankaya all together with an executive, populist, fair, and meritocratic administration and president?

Their time is up. Now is the time for renewal and rejuvenation. Time for change. Time for change, change. This is the rule of life, and the rule of politics. Those whose time is up, whose batteries have run out, will go, isn't that so?

"LET ME TELL YOU A UNIVERSITY MEMORY SO HE GETS EVEN MORE OFFENDED"

Now, anyway, he will get offended again, let me tell you a memory from my university days so he gets even more offended. At school, I had friends from Eskişehir. We were neighbors, we were housemates. I saw their passion in Cyprus between 1988-90. When I saw that passion in them, I have always said this: "You will dedicate yourself to the neighborhood you live in, the city you live in, the institution you work for, and your country. You will be passionately attached. You will be honored to serve it. You will be honored to sweat for it." As a son of the Republican People's Party, I have been honored to serve this party since 2008, to serve my nation through my party, to sweat for it, and to be a son of this party. I am honored. I am honored.

"WE WILL NOT DEVIATE FROM ATATÜRK'S GOALS"

Now, young people, young people will write history in this country, history. Young people will write history. They told me in Bursa, "İmamoğlu will come, İmamoğlu will write history." And I said: "No. İmamoğlu will come, with your strength. But the youth of this country will write the history in this country. The youth will write it."

Look, my dear friends, Turkey will never again experience a repressive regime on these lands where the opposition is suppressed and tried to be destroyed through the judiciary. We will change this corrupt order all together. We will not deviate from the goals Atatürk set before us. We will raise Turkey above the level of contemporary civilization. We will be pioneers in democracy, law, freedom, justice, as well as science, technology, and production. We will be an example to all the nations of the world. We have this power. This country has this potential. We are experiencing this trouble when the will of a single person replaces institutions and rules. But when all institutions, all institutions are saved from the hands of one person and become the nation's institutions, managed by the nation's children, not by a handful of people, not by members of a family, but by the meritocratic children of the nation, this nation, this great republic, will reach the level of contemporary civilization. When one person starts to step outside the law, when state institutions become dependent on one person, unfortunately, they also step outside the law. Look, let me tell you something worse: When that one person is deceived, state institutions are also deceived. That is the state they have brought the Republic of Turkey to. Well, when that one person and the handful of people around him get rich, does the country get rich? No.

"SOVEREIGNTY UNCONDITIONALLY BELONGS TO THE NATION"

Only that handful of people get rich. It never happens. Because in their order, my dear friends, power and wealth are gathered in the hands of a handful of people. And it falls to the nation to be grateful and patient. We are a nation that fought the War of Independence under the most difficult conditions and brought the world to its knees. We know how to be patient and how to be grateful, but there is a time for that.

In this country, after the republic, administrators cannot scold their citizens, cannot give orders to their citizens, cannot command their citizens. Because 102 years ago, this nation was saved from being subjects. They became individuals, they became citizens, they became free, and 102 years ago, the republic taught us this: An administrator, an administrator serving the public, will know their place. They will know their place.

The Republic is, above all, respecting its nation. It means administrators knowing their place before the citizens. We engage in politics with this understanding. Do you know what the name of this understanding is? Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the nation.

"PRIMARY ELECTIONS ARE IN THE SPIRIT OF THE CHP"

The Republican People's Party is the party of believing in the nation unconditionally, of trusting the nation. The primary election we will hold is the expression of this spirit, this understanding. Just as the nation is the sole owner of the country and the state, the members are the sole owners of the parties. Whatever you, the esteemed Republican People's Party members, say, that is what will happen. On March 23, whatever you say, that is what will happen. We are doing one of the most correct, most principled things to be done in the name of the republic and democracy. We are determining our party's presidential candidate through a primary election. Primary elections are not only in our party's bylaws but in its traditions and spirit. Those who run away from the ballot box, those who manage their parties from the palace, are trying to exploit the primary election we will hold, trying to derive benefit for themselves. But we will not give them this opportunity. Because our party has made a democracy revolution, a democracy revolution. It made a democracy revolution by choosing its presidential candidate through a primary election. I thank our very valuable Chairman, Mr. Özgür Özel, who signed this democracy revolution, and in his person, the very valuable MYK members present here, our Secretary General, our Deputy Chairmen, our Party Assembly members, and the Republican People's Party's Grand National Assembly Group, which gave strong support to my embarking on this path, in the presence of all of you, in the name of this democracy revolution. May they be well, may they exist.

"ERDOĞAN, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE THIS SEAL"

We will work together to carry out the most widely participated primary election in our democratic history, without leaving even a single member behind. Then we will make moves to bring the entire opposition together. We will strike fear into those who run away from the nation, fear. We will be a source of hope for our nation. Do you know what we will do with every vote you cast on March 23? We will teach the one in the palace a lesson. In the primary election, in the primary election, all together, all together we will say to him: "Look, look Erdoğan, this is the ballot box. This seal, the seal is not for those who think they are sultans, it belongs to the nation. You will not be able to escape that ballot box! You will not be able to escape that seal!" We will say this.

On March 23, we will give this message as one heart and one fist. We will disperse and send away the pessimism and those dark clouds in the country. Do you know what we want? All the republicans, all the democrats, all the patriots, all the Atatürk lovers of this country will unite and integrate step by step, and all together we will bring Turkey to that beautiful, bright morning. Remember that morning when we get rid of this cruel, self-important government that oppresses the nation, the morning we get rid of that government, remember that moment.

"WE WILL WAKE UP TO A COUNTRY WHERE EVERYONE SPEAKS FREELY"

Remember the morning when freedom, equality, and solidarity wrap around all of Turkey like a sun. Think of that morning when it starts to warm our hearts. That morning will not be about winning an election, but we will wake up to a country where we, as a nation, do not treat our unity and future, the other, as an enemy or a terrorist, where everyone lives like brothers and sisters.

We will wake up to a country where everyone expresses their thoughts freely. We will love humans because they are human, without looking at anyone's origin, belief, gender, or lifestyle. We will act with the upbringing this land has taught us. We are in the lands of Hacı Bayram-ı Veli. We are in the lands of Mevlana. We are in the lands of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. We are in the lands of Yunus Emre, of Pir Sultan Abdal.

We are the people of these lands. My dear friends, without losing even a minute, we will set out to establish a populist, socially just, and strong order in place of this corrupt order. We will ensure that no one is condemned to the ruthless conditions of the market. We will protect everyone's basic rights such as housing, nutrition, education, and health, and humane living conditions. Those who produce, those who create employment, will have the healthiest investment and trade conditions. Our nation will feel in the most powerful way that it is the sole owner of this country and state, and will experience it personally.

"ADMINISTRATORS WILL KNOW THEIR PLACE BEFORE THE CITIZENS"

Our children, our offspring will feel that they are the most powerful, promising owners of this homeland and will look to the future with confidence. All administrators of the state will know their place and limits before the citizens. Loyalty to a person or party will not be the basis, but merit, merit. They won't be able to eliminate people through interviews like that.

The nation's children will know that when they work hard, they can reach the very top of this country. That is the day our nation's hope will increase. The country will not be governed by this or that party, but by the children of the nation. We will create an era where Turkey's path is determined not by this or that person, or this or that person's family, not by this or that party, but in accordance with the common interests of the nation.

My dear friends, my dear friends, the state needs to be governed with the common sense of the nation. It needs an era where it acts in accordance with its common values and dreams. Turkey will grow, get rich, and strengthen with the power of justice, equality, and brotherhood.

It will share wealth fairly. We will explain to our nation one by one how we will do all of this. After March 23, Turkey will start talking about our projects, our concrete promises, and our goals every day. With the adoption of our new party program and the contributions we will receive from all opposition segments, this process will accelerate even more.

"WE ARE A PARTY FOUNDED UNDER THE MOST DIFFICULT CONDITIONS OF HISTORY AND THAT HAS ORGANIZED HOPE FOR THE FUTURE"

As we explain what we will do and how we will do it when we come to power, our nation's demand for early elections will grow even more. Of course, my dear friends, our path is a difficult one. Our path is not an asphalt road. Our path is a stony, dusty road. There will be obstacles on our path. Reaching the goal will not be easy. Which goal have we achieved easily until today? We may have to pay a price from now on as well.

But whoever falls into despair, whoever falls into hopelessness, we will take them by the arm and lift them up. The greatest duty of us, that is, the Republican People's Party members, in this period is high solidarity. We will stand at the forefront of solidarity. We will show our courage to our nation. We will show our determination to our nation. We are a party founded under the most difficult conditions of history and that has organized hope for the future.

What did the great Atatürk say? Our party's greatest strength is honest, open politics and commitment to our words. We will be individuals of honest and open politics and we will never give up on commitment to our words. We will never give up on those strong bonds in our relationship with each other. We will not give up while asking for authority from our nation. After receiving the authority, we will continue on our path by strengthening our bonds with our nation. My dear friends, we all know that today, in practice, two separate laws apply in Turkey. Those under the wings of the government are not tried at all, even if they commit the most serious crimes. They do not receive any punishment they deserve, and there is not even anyone questioning them. But a law of enmity is applied to those who criticize the government, who seek their rights, who want justice, especially the Republican People's Party members. Because the government's hand and arm are inside the judiciary.