Özgür Çelik announces YENİ Party's presidential candidate: The nation has made the decision

Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik made assessments regarding the current agenda on journalist Özlem Gürses's program "Bana Baştan Anlat." Addressing the discussions on presidential candidacy, Çelik stated that their candidate is Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Çelik used the following expressions: "First of all, our presidential candidate is Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Why? Because the nation has made the decision on this. 25 million people have declared their desire to see Ekrem İmamoğlu as their candidate with their signatures, and 15.5 million people have declared it with their votes in the solidarity ballot boxes."

Arguing that the process would not turn into a crisis if a potential political ban decision against İmamoğlu were to come to the agenda, Çelik stated that the method for determining the candidate would be established in a way that puts the public at the center once again. Çelik said, "Whether it is a ballot box, a tradition, or a survey, all of these will be put forward before the nation."

Çelik stated that in such a situation, party boards under the leadership of Chairman Özgür Özel would determine a method, and the subject of that method would again be the nation.

Responding to claims regarding Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Çelik said that Yavaş is conducting a "healthy and sensible" process. Stating that there is no tension between Yavaş and Chairman Özel, Çelik expressed that Yavaş is well aware of the meaning of the pressures on local governments and the opposition.

FRAMEWORK LAW AND INTRA-PARTY DISCUSSIONS

Touching upon the "Terror-Free Turkey" process in Parliament and the framework law vote, Çelik said that they took an "in favor" stance as an institution. However, noting that the justifications of the deputies who voted "against" were also valid, Çelik listed the lack of transparency in the process, the failure to include steps for democratization, the non-implementation of Constitutional Court (AYM) and European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings, and the continuation of trustee policies among the topics of criticism.

Speaking about some Istanbul district mayors who joined the AKP after winning the election as CHP candidates, Çelik apologized to the citizens living in Beykoz, Çekmeköy, Tuzla, and Şile. Çelik said he was sorry that they could not foresee the attitudes of these individuals during the candidate determination process.

Providing information regarding the membership process, Çelik reported that their party reached over 500 thousand members in 15 days, and 105 thousand of these members were from Istanbul. Çelik stated that nearly half of the members consist of women, and more than 20 thousand consist of young people.