Meral Akşener's highly controversial remarks on Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş! 'The crowd called the Saraçhane media...'

İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener, who decided to enter the local elections 'freely and independently,' attended an iftar program organized by her party in Afyonkarahisar.

Speaking after the program, Akşener reiterated that "they are continuing freely and independently because they saw that the alliance politics imposed by the Presidential Government System did not achieve success."

"EVERYONE WAS IN A 'LAZY BONES' STATE"

Touching upon the candidate selection process in the Table of Six, Akşener stated, "We saw something. While we were striving with all our might to change this freak system, it turned out everyone else was actually very comfortable. Everyone was in a 'lazy bones' state. One says, 'I swear, if I put my box up, it would get 60 percent.' The other side says, 'I would win if I put my jacket up.' There is a jacket here, and there is a soda can there. The two sides are clashing with each other. What are they clashing over? They are clashing over 'this-ism' and 'that-ism,' and the retirees are not in this. Our children suffering from the injustice of interviews are not in this. Our farmers, whose backs are broken by the cost of diesel, fertilizer, and medicine, are not in this. Our tradesmen are not in this. In other words, our noble nation is not in this."

'THE CROWD CALLED THE SARAÇHANE MEDIA INSULTED MY LATE MOTHER'

Emphasizing that the İYİ Party made a significant contribution to the municipalities won in the 2019 local elections, Akşener said, "We are a political party that contributed to and benefited from the winning of municipalities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, and Adana. We experienced interesting things. While Mr. İmamoğlu was sitting in the Istanbul Mayor's chair, a legal penalty was issued, and things got chaotic. Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu was in Germany, and I rushed over there. I wanted to support Mr. İmamoğlu, but today, the crowd referred to in quotes as the 'Saraçhane media'—that is, those media-like, journalist-like friends who say 'Even if my blood spills, victory belongs to İmamoğlu'—all insulted my late mother."

THE MUHITTIN BÖCEK CLAIM THAT WILL DOMINATE THE AGENDA

Stating that moves were made to replace Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek, who contracted coronavirus in 2020, Akşener said, "He went through a long illness process. As many people as there were in mayoral positions came one by one and said, 'If you agree, the CHP will agree. You should also talk to Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu.' This was while the aforementioned Böcek was lying in his sickbed. 'Let's put this person in his place.' I said 'No.' I said this was political immorality, and they couldn't do it. Then God granted him healing, Mr. Muhittin Böcek recovered, and he continued to govern."

TO MANSUR YAVAŞ: 'I WAS VERY ASHAMED ON HIS BEHALF'

Stating, "Similar things happened in Ankara. We stood right against the injustices committed and rushed to the side of these friends," Akşener continued as follows:

"And then what happened? From the moment we decided to enter freely and independently, my brother Muhittin Böcek personally had our municipal council members in Antalya resign one by one. What happened in Istanbul? In the same way, in Istanbul, some of our district chairs and some of our municipal council members were made to resign—while personally insulting and slandering both our party and me—and photos were taken. The worst of all is Ankara. A great effort was made to have all the organizations resign down to the last person. I was very sad; I was very ashamed on his behalf. Mr. Mansur Yavaş appeared on television and said, 'The provincial chair, municipal council members, district chairs, and district administrators resigned from the İYİ Party; they are working with me.' Others won't understand, but Mr. Mansur Yavaş and the crowd around him will understand what I am about to say. A wolf survives the winter, but it never forgets the frost it endured. God is my witness, I swear by God, I will not forget it either."