Özgür Özel responds to Erdoğan's 'remote control' remark

The 102nd anniversary celebrations of the Republican People's Party (CHP) have begun. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel participated in a run organized as part of the events. After running the 10-kilometer course around Lake Eymir in 56 minutes, Özel made statements to journalists.

Özel responded to AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had used the phrase “a chairman managed by remote control” to describe him.

“I WISH HE HAD COME HERE AND…”

Özel stated, “I wish he had come here and we could run not 10 km, but 100 meters together. He would see how things look from a distance versus up close.”

WHAT DID ERDOĞAN SAY?

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had targeted CHP leader Özel in his speech at the earthquake housing delivery ceremony in Malatya yesterday, calling him a “chairman managed by remote control.”

Erdoğan had said the following:

“Every now and then their paths cross with Europe, and all they do there is complain about Turkey to Westerners and the foreign media. They were supposed to leave internal disputes behind and act as a party for Turkey when they went abroad. In the end, they became a source of shame that bowed our country's head. They are both humiliating themselves and damaging the reputation of politics to whitewash a handful of municipal embezzlers who plunder the public's money. The chairman, who is managed by remote control, does not listen to what comes out of his own mouth. He insults everyone he encounters with a style devoid of level. When this person starts speaking, families immediately change the channel so their children are not negatively affected. Most recently, he took aim at the fish in Sinop, but he missed the mark again.”