İYİ Party Chair candidate Müsavat Dervişoğlu: I want to hold Tayyip Erdoğan to account in the squares of Turkey

The highly anticipated 5th Extraordinary Congress of the İYİ Party has begun.

No spectators were admitted to the congress held at the ATO Congresium in Ankara.

Koray Aydın, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, Mehmet Tolga Akalın, and Günay Kodaz are competing for the chairmanship.

Following the speech by İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener, Müsavat Dervişoğlu took the podium.

"I WANT TO HOLD TAYYİP ERDOĞAN TO ACCOUNT"

"We must be a unifying force, we must unite," said Dervişoğlu, adding, "We are obligated to fight against them. This struggle is not a struggle that can be waged in congress halls or conference halls. I beg you, for the sake of God, give me a chance; I want to hold Tayyip Erdoğan to account in the squares of Turkey. Give me that power, give me that support, do not withhold it from me."

Highlights from Dervişoğlu's speech:

"The journey we embarked upon was not easy. Before us was a tyrannical government and a freak system whose nature was unclear. The struggle of the 'Good' people was already a struggle against this tyrannical government and this freak system. The system had impositions. One of those impositions was seeking the opportunity to gain a place in the political arena through alliances. The İYİ Party is not the cause or the party responsible for this. The party responsible for this was, in essence, the system imposed upon Turkey.

And we, starting in 2018, were involved in various alliances until the last local elections. The main purpose and goal of the 2019 local election alliance, as you all know, was the desire to defeat this government through elections and to put an end to the AKP government. We succeeded in this in the 2019 local elections. We showed our great nation that the opposition could win and that this government could even be ousted. We had made the alliance in that election for the 2023 general elections. We were going to show that the government could be defeated, and then we would try to ensure that the political life of the government in power would come to an end in the 2023 elections. But the process did not flow that way. As you all know, despite all the efforts of the İYİ Party, unfortunately, due to some strategic mistakes, the 2023 elections were lost, and Turkey went to a local election following this. Our party decided to enter this election independently, by convening all its authorized bodies, in order to preserve its unique identity and to prepare properly for the 2028 general elections. With the taking of this decision, the İYİ Party was again attempted to be made the target of various attacks. As a result of that, following that process, we unfortunately did not succeed in the local elections we entered, and we faced this congress before we could even evaluate this failure and perform our self-criticism.

In fact, the issue needed to be understood correctly, interpreted correctly, and the long-term gains for our party needed to be remembered. We could not do these, and as a result, we gathered in this congress hall. Our chairwoman laid the groundwork for this congress by announcing that she would not be a candidate, as a requirement of the promise she made to our nation.

We have come before you as 3 candidates, by taking on historical responsibility in this critical process. One of these candidates is my dear elder, my family elder, my family friend, Mr. Koray Aydın. Another of these candidates is my dear brother, my valued friend, a member of my family, Mr. Tolga Akalın. I am also here before you today as the elder of one of our candidates and the brother of the other.

This beautiful congress is actually not just a congress that the İYİ Party members have their eyes on; this is a congress that the great Turkish nation has its eyes on and is following. As you can see before this congress, there has been no polarization as there is in other parties. Again, as in other parties, lies, hypocrisy, slander, and discord have not been spilled into the streets. All our candidates have displayed an attitude and behavior befitting them, in accordance with our democratic traditions, and consistent with the political morality of the movement of the good and the brave. I thank our candidates and those who have set their hearts on our candidates in the presence of you all.

Easy days do not await us. We will not just hold a congress; with this congress, we will heal the wounds of the İYİ Party. I know we have troubles, I know we have grievances. We must unite and overcome. That is why we are coming.

Whatever problems await our party in this country, rest assured that those problems are the problems awaiting Turkey. Whatever problems existed on the day the İYİ Party was founded, they have come before us today by growing exponentially. This is an indication that the reason for the existence of the İYİ Party still continues. That is why we say, the sun of the İYİ Party will never set.

We have emerged from the local elections. A definition of failure is being made. We made a decision jointly, but while implementing this decision, we could not implement it jointly. Especially in the big cities, the public was polarized due to the AKP's dominant campaign practices. Therefore, instead of looking at who would win, the voter looked at who should lose, and unfortunately, they voted that way. The government's dominant campaign polarized the voter so much that our citizens, and perhaps some of our party base, shaped their voting preference to ensure that the AKP would not come to power. I have nothing to say to those who used their votes this way. But we cannot wash our hands of this situation; I want this to be known as well. We received very few votes in some places, but our Nevşehir mayor, who is currently sitting on the Board, received 52 percent of the vote. If we can succeed in getting 52 percent of the vote in Nevşehir, where the AKP does not lose elections, if you ask me, the vote share of the İYİ Party is not 5 percent, but 52 percent, friends. If we can manage to grasp the issues correctly and make the judgments correctly, this is a situation we will realize. We have our Ordu Metropolitan Mayor among us, Mr. Enver Yılmaz. It was seen that he received 37 percent of the vote in a place like Ordu, where the AKP received nearly 70 percent of the vote. In my opinion, he won the election, but Beştepe stole the election from him. If you look from that criterion, you can also call the İYİ Party's vote 37 percent.

We will position ourselves wherever Atatürk and the republic are positioned. They ask, are you the center of politics, are you on the right, or are you on the left? I say it from here; at the heart and center of Turkey lies the Republic of Turkey founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Turkish nationalism he also founded. Of course, the İYİ Party will be at the center of Turkish politics.

We will embrace all segments of society. Alevi, Sunni, Turk, Turkmen, Kurd, we will open our arms to everyone. We are not against political views, we are not against different perspectives. People think as they wish and express their views and thoughts as they wish. But I clearly state and declare that; it is not even possible for the İYİ Party to stand side by side with those who disrespect the Turkish Flag and the National Anthem. We have no enmity toward anyone. We are enemies of injustice. We stand against the unjust. We succeed in demonstrating the will to stand by the side of the rightful against the unjust.

The historical responsibility of the İYİ Party is actually the manifestation of the will that will be the salvation recipe for Turkey. I say it clearly, we do not fight against people according to their views, origins, or sects, but by looking at the betrayals, injustices, and thefts they have committed.

We must be a unifying force, we must unite. Because the struggle we will wage is not an ordinary struggle. The Erdoğan government manages the process by polarizing and pitting society against each other. The Erdoğan government enriches its cronies with public resources. The Erdoğan government is plundering our people, our nature, our greenery, our seas, and our rivers with a 22-year hunger for zoning changes. And sadly, the Erdoğan government is trying to create a basis for the Treaty of Lausanne, which is the founding title deed of the Republic of Turkey, to be opened for debate through its cronies. We are obligated to fight against these. This struggle is not a struggle that can be waged in congress halls or conference halls. I beg you, for the sake of God, give me a chance; I want to hold Tayyip Erdoğan to account in the squares of Turkey. Give me that power, give me that support, do not withhold it from me.

Look, I am saying, the İYİ Party is still a center of hope in the hearts of the nation politically. If we are hand in hand, heart to heart, we will fulfill all of these properly."