Striking statement from Meral Akşener regarding the 2023 elections! 'Let all the blame be mine, but...'

İYI Party Chair Meral Akşener, speaking at the Bursa Organization Meeting held at the Merinos Atatürk Congress and Culture Center, noted that they were part of the Nation Alliance in the presidential and parliamentary elections last May and that they did their best with great sincerity during that process.

Stating that she visited everywhere in Bursa except for 4 mountainous districts during the 2019 local elections, Akşener expressed that at that time, rather than just winning the mayoralties, they aimed to change the system with a success story by emerging victorious from the 2023 elections, but they failed to achieve this.

Noting that there were various reasons for this, Akşener continued as follows:

"If the fault is mine, I accept it, but I have reached a certain point. That is why we are entering [the elections] free and independent. The point I have reached is this: everyone except us was satisfied with their situation. That is the real issue. We did not succeed in 2023. I say it again. Let all the blame be mine. Pull me aside, but it still wouldn't have been achieved. Because I say it again, everyone was satisfied with their situation. Because going to the voter, bowing down, and saying 'You are my benefactor' is a very heavy, difficult task. Taking 10 minutes to convince a single person is a very skillful task. When you make a sour face and conduct politics by saying 'You are already this, you are already that,' and when you build politics on this polarization through social media as much as your money allows, through television, and through social media, those values continue to remain on the ground, continue to remain on the street. People continue to suffer."

"WE ARE THE STRONGEST OF THE THIRD WAY"

Touching upon the words of CHP Chair Özgür Özel, Akşener stated, "It is very interesting, I respect everyone, but he said, 'Vote for the strongest candidate against the AK Party.' I say from here that yes, we are the strongest of the third way. I hope that in Bursa, those who are annoyed with the Republican People's Party and those who are annoyed with the AK Party will support Selçuk Türkoğlu."

Reiterating that they will go to the local elections independently, Meral Akşener said:

"How much do we weigh as free and independent? How tall are we? What are we? Who are we? In a system where this is explained one by one, both to our voters, our nation, and within ourselves, the goal is to ensure that both sides are pulled by the ears by our citizens, who are very satisfied with this situation. We have no special hostility toward the administrators of the Republican People's Party or the administrators of the AK Party, but we have an objection to the existence of this freak system and the trampling of all those values that have been cast into the streets."

"ONE SIDE WAS TELLING US 'YOU ARE SHAKING HANDS WITH THOSE WHO SHAKE HANDS WITH PKK MEMBERS'. WE HAVE LET GO OF ALL HANDS"

Emphasizing that they will win the election, Akşener said, "Come on then, esteemed ones, one side was telling us 'You are shaking hands with those who shake hands with PKK members.' We have let go of all hands. Now, therefore, we are entering alone. Without shaking hands with anyone, without saying a bad word to anyone, without insulting anyone, the voter who votes for the AK Party is on our head, and the voter who votes for the Republican People's Party is on our head. We are candidates for the votes of everyone who votes for those two parties and others as well."

Following her speech, Akşener introduced her party's candidates for the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality and district mayoralties.