Joint statement from İYİ Party provincial chairs! 'Democracy has been wounded'

Following the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, İYİ Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu called the 81 provincial chairs to an extraordinary meeting. The meeting, held at a hotel in Ankara, was attended by provincial chairs and executive board members. After the meeting, which lasted approximately one hour, the 81 provincial chairs issued a joint statement.

Ankara Provincial Chair Yener Yıldırım, who delivered the statement, said the following:

"As provincial chairs who are wholeheartedly committed to the more than 150-year accumulation and tradition of Turkish democracy, who see the national will as superior to any other will, and who proclaim the reality that law and democracy are as necessary as air and water, we, as the 81 provincial chairs of the İYİ Party, condemn the detention process of Mr. İmamoğlu, who was elected by the will of our nation, as it wounds democracy and the sense of justice on this dark day in our political history.

The Republic of Turkey is a state of law. A government that tramples on law and justice has also trampled on, and indeed ended, its own legitimacy. We will continue to stand against this chaos plan that targets the peace of Turkey and the Turkish nation, and we will continue to be behind our Chairman every second in every step he takes for this cause. As our Chairman also stated; 'The Republic is competition. The Republic is the ability to choose. The Republic is freedom'. As the 81 Provincial Chairs of the İYİ Party, we declare to our nation that we will stand tall against this tyranny, just like our Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu. We will not be silent. We will not be afraid. We will not bow down.”