Imamoglu's response to Erdogan: "He admitted to blocking me"

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu concluded his district tour, which he carried out with CHP Arnavutkoy Mayoral candidate Tekin Aras, with a public meeting at Republic Square.

Citizens filling the square, house windows, balconies, and rooftops showed their affection for Imamoglu and Aras.

AKP'S VEHICLE SABOTAGED THE RALLY

During his speech, Imamoglu, who did not remain indifferent to election vehicles belonging to different political parties driving around the area playing loud music, said, "There are cars passing by here playing music, knowing full well that there is a rally; let them be. Now, what will increase respect and love in society is the attitude of the administrators. The attitude of administrators, good morals, good and proper behavior; gives peace to families, children, and young people. Do you know what I am saddened by? Their minds are so gone that they think they will win votes by doing this. My country has conscientious people, my country has fair people; they know that what is being done is immoral and they will not vote for it. You will see; they will not. Our people love moral people, our people love fair people. Our people love conscientious people. This nation does not entrust its children to those who have no conscience, to those who are not moral. They will not. Therefore, may God give them wisdom. What can I say? May God reform them," he stated.

"WE ARE DISTRIBUTING THE NATION'S MONEY TO THE NATION; NOT TO A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU"

Emphasizing that they are distributing the nation's money to the nation with the services they provide and will continue to do so, Imamoglu said in summary:

"The President had asked me from the podium. He said, 'Whose money are you distributing to whom?' We are distributing the nation's money to the nation; not to a handful of people like you. In this city, we continue to provide the best examples of populist municipalism, of municipalism that thinks of its citizens. We are managing an Istanbul Municipality that is transparent, like water. We were the ones who first established the idea that 'The Istanbul Municipality belongs to the public' in these lands. Look; the municipality of this city has always accounted for every action it has taken to its citizens. It will continue to do so. Every day, this brother of yours is in the bazaar, in the market, on the street, at construction sites, among the citizens, managing this city together with them. We have always been an administration that shares the troubles of its citizens and empathizes with them.

We understood their needs. We are managing the municipality with common sense, not with cronyism, but with merit, with the children of the nation. This transparency, let me say this, if it existed in every institution of the state; this country would not be buried in triple-digit inflation right now. This country would not be exposed to the highest inflation in the world right now. The money of this country would not be worthless right now. It would not be struggling with poverty. But because they removed merit and those beautiful children of society from their positions and replaced them with cronies, spouses, friends, relatives, their sons, daughters, sons-in-law, and placed ten or fifteen people from one family into positions through nepotism, this country is in this situation today. That is why we will continue to manage the institutions of this country with merit, with the nation's talented children, starting with Istanbul, and with my brother Tekin in Arnavutkoy. Mayor Tekin will write history in Arnavutkoy."

"THEY HAVE MARKED ME SINCE THE DAY I TOOK BEYLIKDUZU FROM THE AK PARTY"

"10 years ago, the only district the AK Party lost was Beylikduzu. I won the election, and they have marked me since that day. They tried to block all my work. Since that day, I have been continuing with the same morality I started in that district in the Metropolitan Municipality. I continue to distribute Istanbul's rent to our 16 million people. That is why they are trying to keep me away from these places. That is why they want Ekrem Imamoglu not to distribute this rent to 16 million people; they want a handful of people to benefit. But we will not allow this. This nation has awakened. Look, when we stand like a wall against them, when we bravely express our ideas about the process, they try to intimidate me with all sorts of games. But I said it. I said it before. This brother of yours does not get intimidated; he intimidates. You will be the ones to get intimidated. You saw this invitation issue recently, didn't you? For God's sake, a person in this society...

Look; in our customs, our culture, our faith, it is acceptable to invite. Accepting an invitation is a custom, our tradition, morality, sportsmanship. 'Oh, who invited Ekrem Imamoglu? Did he invite him, or did he invite him?' The invitation turned into a fireball, it is burning their hands. Everyone is running away from the invitation. For God's sake, where do you think you invited me? Or that you didn't. This nation will give you the answer to this style of yours. Their minds are gone. Their minds are truly gone. They are like a joke. They are not normal, let me tell you. They are not in their right minds. May God give them all wisdom."

"And they have put an amateur candidate in Istanbul, that is, in the most beautiful city in the world, in the most ancient, historical city in the world. They have stood up and said, 'Oh, the invitation this, the invitation that...' You first go and finish the site in Maltepe that you couldn't even build - they were protesting just yesterday - you couldn't deliver people's homes. In five years, you couldn't finish a place the size of a site. And they talk about whether an invitation was given or not! Completely amateur. Do you know why they are amateur? They only followed the instructions given. What does he say? He says, 'my command,' he says, 'I ordered it.'

What do they say? 'With his gracious permission.' God forbid, a fire broke out here. One of their officials went on television and what did he say? Remember. He said, 'The fire department went to extinguish the fire with the gracious permission of the President.' May God give them wisdom, I swear. Does the fire department go to extinguish a fire with someone's instruction? If a fire has broken out somewhere, the fire department runs there. That is its duty. Their minds have turned, they have lost their senses. May God help them."

"THERE ARE MORE PHOTOS OF SOMEONE ELSE IN ISTANBUL RIGHT NOW THAN OF THIS AMATEUR CANDIDATE"

"They are no longer in a position to explain projects. They are not in a position to make their people happy with their projects. That is why, it is all polemics. Let them chase after empty things. We do hear their words from time to time. Did he say, 'Ekrem Imamoglu rushed to the earthquake zone'? Well, he told the truth. Did he say, 'He completed 87 percent of his projects'? Well, he told the truth. He only told two truths during the campaign period; those were them. A disappointment.

I am saying it today, if you say 'Imamoglu said so.' There are more photos of someone else in Istanbul right now than of this amateur candidate; you know that, don't you? You know who that is, don't you? Look, he won't be able to be patient. I am telling you, he won't be able to be patient. In a week or two, he will start touring street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, district by district, and I swear he will start holding rallies. Every day he will definitely have me on his tongue. Since the day I was elected, since the day I came to this office, I have always said it. Believe me, he sees me in his dreams every night. I swear he sees me in his dreams."

"THE PRESIDENT SAID TODAY..."

"Look; they are also deceiving people. What did he say? The President said today; before me, the late Kadir Topbas had given Istanbul a beautiful face, and after him, I came and could not give it one. For God's sake, one should have a little shame, shame. Aren't you the ones who declared the late Topbas 'metal fatigue' because he didn't sign five zoning files, made his life a dungeon, and forced him to leave his post? Be ashamed of God, fear God. You will say this, and now you will commemorate him as 'the late Topbas.' Shall I tell you? Even his own party members, after these things he said, do you know what they are saying to themselves with their heads bowed?

'He left his post because of you.' May God have mercy on him. These are people who are ready to turn everything to their advantage in this way, unfortunately with wrongdoings, lies, and by twisting and turning topics. The poor man passed away a few years later out of grief. Let me tell you: Mashallah, these are people who eat with the wolf and weep with the shepherd, let me tell you."

"HE DID EVERYTHING TO THE LATE NECMETTIN ERBAKAN"

"I will remind you of one more thing. He did everything to the late Necmettin Erbakan. I will touch upon this too. Why? There is a special situation regarding today. What did he say to the person who brought him into politics; he said, 'He is 70 years old, his time is up.' Today, he himself has turned 70. I will not say such a thing. I congratulate him on his birthday. I say, 'May God give him health, may God give him a long life.' I will not say anything else. But you will stop threatening the citizens.

What is he saying to people? Today he is threatening the nation with votes. He says today, 'You didn't vote for us in Istanbul, I blocked it.' He also admits that he blocked it. He says, 'If Murat Kurum comes, there will be no disruption in the work.' He is openly admitting that he blocked me. For God's sake, he used to go on television and tell the mayors, 'There is no blocking.' Look; the President himself is saying he blocked me. Let's see what you will do from now on?"

"IF THIS NATION HAD LISTENED TO THREATS..."

"But let me say one thing. If this nation had listened to threats, it would not have increased the 13 thousand 600 votes to 806 thousand after the election was canceled. When 806 thousand votes were received in the second round, he disappeared for three or four days; remember. Let me tell you one more thing. If this nation were a nation that cowered under threats, it would not have poured into the streets against an armed coup plotter, my brother. You don't know what this nation is. Therefore, do not try to threaten this nation. This nation will give you the answer.

This nation, you will see, will teach you such a lesson in the upcoming election that it will remind you of your real responsibility. After April 1st, you will be in a panic. You will start working day and night to fix the economy as soon as possible. You will struggle to increase the salaries of retirees. You will struggle not to raise prices. This nation will remind you on March 31st that your business is not Ekrem Imamoglu; your business is the economy of this country, the retiree's salary, the increase in the minimum wage, and the end of the high cost of living."

"WE HAVE DONE TWICE AS MUCH AS THEY COULD NOT DO, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO"

"Our preparation is complete. We have made our projects, and we continue to do so. We have done twice as much as they could not do, and we will continue to do so. Of course, we want your support. Of course, we want your votes for the Metropolitan Mayoralty. Especially, we want support for Mayor Tekin in Arnavutkoy. Are we ready to vote for Mayor Tekin in Arnavutkoy? Are we ready to support our list in the Parliament in Arnavutkoy? Okay.

Are we ready to become members of the Istanbul Volunteers, to work together, to take duty at the ballot box, to keep the ballot boxes safe, to work all together, to strive for a democratic victory as a nation, and to win as a nation? We will show once again, all together, that this nation has established the Istanbul Alliance, that it has formed an alliance of conscience, and that it is fighting for rights and justice. I love you all very much. We know that the period in which we ended waste and brought service together with you will exist in this city for many years. We know that populist municipalism will exist. You will introduce the representative of the new generation of politics, that beautiful language, in Arnavutkoy to all of Turkey. You will support him. Together with Mayor Tekin, we will be successful in Arnavutkoy, and all together in Istanbul. All together, with all our might, we will say 'Full speed ahead.' Everything will be very beautiful."