Özgür Özel's 'İmamoğlu' response to Bahçeli! 'If he is so curious...'

Having left the party congress process behind, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel has begun his work for the local elections. 

Özel stated that in the period between the local elections and the general elections, he wants to first surpass the 30 percent threshold, then the 35 percent threshold, and make the CHP the leading party on its own.

'İMAMOĞLU' RESPONSE TO BAHÇELİ

According to the report by Cumhuriyet, responding to MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli's remarks, in which he pointed to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and accused the CHP of having a dual-headed management, Özel said the following;

“His assessment has somewhat exceeded the boundaries of courtesy. Everyone should be occupied with the internal workings of their own party. The CHP already has nearly 1.5 million members and voters who care about it. If he is so curious, let me put it this way: Mr. Ekrem is sealed to Istanbul. I am sealed to the success of the CHP. And all CHP members are sealed to changing the government in the first election. I saw in Mr. Bahçeli the anxiety of losing power and the arrival of a CHP government in its place." 

“MY GOAL IS TO MAKE THE CHP THE LEADING PARTY ON ITS OWN”

“There is an excitement visible in the field. The important thing is to sustain this excitement and turn it into a wave. My goal is to protect what we have in the local elections and build upon it,” said Özel, adding, “In the period between the local elections and the general elections, my goal is to first surpass the 30 percent threshold, then the 35 percent threshold, and make the CHP the leading party on its own with significant power. That is why it is not the case that ‘Change has happened, this is very easy.’ One should not think that the party will come to power just with change. We all need to transform our way of doing politics into one that works very hard,” he said.

"THERE WILL BE NO ELECTIONS THROUGH CRONYISM”

Speaking about the preparations for the local elections, Özel said, “We need to handle the primaries under the supervision of the organization as much as possible without leaving it until the new year or in the early days of the new year, and determine the candidates. But primaries under the supervision of the organization do not yield the right results everywhere. We will decide this by consulting our organizations. The method that will not exist with us—I am not accusing anyone—is that there will be no elections through cronyism.”

“WE WILL NOT HAVE ANY MEETINGS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS”

When asked, “Will there be contact with the IYI Party and HEDEP for the local elections?”, Özel responded as follows:

“The word alliance has become exhausted. From now on, we prefer the word cooperation. We are thinking of this as specific to the electoral district, as separate cooperations with parties. Contact with the IYI Party can be expected in the coming days. We can also have contact with all parties other than the IYI Party. HEDEP is also a party represented in Parliament, authorized by millions of citizens, which has won many municipalities and had them taken away by the unfair appointment of trustees. We will share with them both the issue of trustees and what we think about the elections. We will not have any meetings behind closed doors. If we have a meeting, it will be open to the public.”

STATEMENT ON PERVIN CHAKAR: I HAVE NO REGRETS AT ALL

Özel also evaluated the criticisms regarding the photo taken while kissing the hand of Pervin Chakar:

“I also watched Pervin Chakar and gave her flowers. I did so as the attention and courtesy that should be shown to an artist while giving flowers. I have no regrets at all. Furthermore, some are trying to manufacture something out of this. Ms. Pervin is one of the artists who appears most on TRT Kurdi. For example, if Mr. Devlet is uncomfortable with this, he should ask Mr. Tayyip, “Why does Ms. Pervin appear?” It is very clear that Ms. Pervin did not use those expressions for a Kurdish state in Turkey. Erdoğan also uses the expression “Iraqi Kurdistan” from time to time. I kissed her hand out of courtesy as an artist, as an artist of whom Kurdish citizens are proud, and as a successful artist abroad. I have no regrets about this either.”