Özgür Özel's football jab at Erdoğan: 'İmamoğlu doesn't concede goals, he wins elections'

CHP leader Özgür Özel made statements in Beylikdüzü. Giving a message to citizens participating in protests against detention decisions not to attack the police, Özel stated that 'barricades set up by order must be dismantled without harming the police.'

Noting that İmamoğlu will be the president in the next elections, Özel described the detention process as an attempted coup. Özel emphasized that they would exercise their right to democratic protest against unlawful orders.

Here are the messages Özel gave from Beylikdüzü:

''Beylikdüzü is a district that is very precious and important in the history of the Republic of Turkey, whose importance increases with each passing day, which will be remembered in a very different way when it fully takes its place in history, which we know now and those who read correctly see, but whose importance will be understood much more when the history of Turkey is discussed one day. Be sure that Beylikdüzü is the district where the first step of a great march was taken and the first victory of a great struggle was won. Beylikdüzü is the district where the country's next president took his first step, the district founded by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was also its first president. Mr. Erdoğan says, 'I know football. I play football.'"

'HE IS CREATING PERCEPTION WITH AKP TROLLS'

Let's remind him of Beylikdüzü. Beylikdüzü is the place where Ekrem İmamoğlu scored his first goal against him. Ekrem İmamoğlu is a goalkeeper in football; he doesn't concede goals. But Ekrem İmamoğlu scores against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and wins the match. I actually see Beylikdüzü as such a district. When you look from above, in a plane or helicopter, you see both Beylikdüzü and the neighboring Esenyurt. When Esenyurt passed from the Republican People's Party to the AK Party, its population was 70 thousand. When we took it back, its population was 1 million. When you look at Esenyurt and Beylikdüzü from above, you cannot see a single blade of grass or a tree on one side. Mr. Tayyip and those he appointed have eaten it all and poured concrete in its place. But when you look at Beylikdüzü, you see a district with a good zoning plan, good urbanization, incredible green spaces, and one that has been growing for 30 years without suffocating, without being suffocated, without abandoning life, without giving up on greenery, without allowing unplanned and unprogrammed vertical construction, and one that returns urban rent to the city.

There is a big debate here today. The Justice and Development Party, through palace journalists and trolls, is conducting a perception operation as if Ekrem İmamoğlu and Murat Çalık have committed corruption, as if they want them to be remembered for the zoning and tender corruption that the AK Party knows very well. If we did nothing, if we just formed a jury from our nation and brought 100 people and said, 'Look, oh people. The AK Party has managed this Esenyurt for years.

As for this Beylikdüzü, Murat Çalık made the city plan in 1999. After it became a district, the AK Party managed it for one term. The people of Beylikdüzü saw it and immediately said, 'Watch out,' and 'Give this place away. I will entrust this place to Ekrem İmamoğlu.' Then, when İmamoğlu moved to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, they said, 'I will entrust it to Murat Çalık.' The result is this: Although the population of Beylikdüzü has doubled, the amount of green space here increases every year. In Beylikdüzü, managed by İmamoğlu and Çalık, the green space per capita is 10 square meters, while it is half a square meter in Esenyurt. Now, if we asked a public jury of 100 people, did the rent-seekers manage this place? Is there corruption here, or is there corruption there? Is there an urban crime here, or is there an urban crime there? If one out of 100 people finds Beylikdüzü worse than Esenyurt, or finds Ekrem İmamoğlu and Murat Çalık worse than the AK Party members who manage Esenyurt, I will quit politics today. Beylikdüzü is the capital of decent, honest, transparent politics, of politics that loves the city, nature, and people. Esenyurt is a museum of urban crimes. We have been protecting this city since 2009.

'İMAMOĞLU AND ÇALIK ARE HEROES'

It was in the hands of the AK Party between 2009-14, but we had the majority in the municipal council, and we did not allow an inch of injustice. President Ekrem from 2014-19, and President Murat since 2019, are the architects of this great success and these legendary works. Look, all over Turkey, when there is no place left to go in the city, green spaces are converted into housing, workplaces, or public areas through zoning changes. In many places, they take the green space, convert it, and open it for zoning for the social security institution, tax office, police, or housing. In Beylikdüzü, Murat Çalık and Ekrem İmamoğlu are two heroes who bought the SGK land with the municipality's money and turned it into an urban forest.

Everyone will know what they are talking about. The first message from Murat Çalık, whom you put inside, to the outside is, 'Watch out, watch out. Don't let the nutrition hour or lunch box be disrupted.' What is he saying? He started with 900, and now every morning, he gives a lunch box, decided by a dietitian and nutrition experts, to 2 thousand students every day, without writing the municipality's name or his own name on it, without letting the left hand see what the right hand gives, without creating a feeling in the child at school that 'Your mother filled your bag, mine came as aid from the municipality,' Murat Çalık gives that food to 2 thousand poor, needy children every morning. The prayers of those children's mothers are enough for us.

'ÇALIK RUSHED TO THE AID OF THE EARTHQUAKE ZONE'

I would like to share a testimony of mine with you all here. Beylikdüzü knows, but let Turkey hear. Let Turkey hear on live broadcast. The earthquake happened, and when calls were made to direct the mayors to Hatay, do you know what Murat Çalık said? He said, 'I am in Hatay,' 'I am in Hatay.' He was the first to go. Then do you know what he did? His profession is also urban planning. He drew something with the pen he took. None of us understood what this man was doing. He drew something in a corner like this. Three days later, first 400 tents with infrastructure ready, then that tent city in three days, a tent city hosting 5 thousand people. And it transformed every day. And we saw that in a very short time, an incredible container city, with a fire station in one corner, a health center in one corner, a nursery, school, psychological counseling centers, psychologists, and child education experts inside the container city. There, in three or four weeks, in three days, he gave everyone their soup, food, tent, and blanket. Three weeks later, he created an incredible city there. Upon returning, he handed over that city to the governorship.

Let's just say this much. Koreans were coming, Japanese were coming, Germans were coming. The governor was showing the container city built by Murat Çalık to foreign delegations to show how well our state worked during the earthquake. He is such a person. That's why everyone will know what they are talking about. On the first day, I said 'Get well soon' to Dilek Hanım and rushed to Saraçhane. I have been in Saraçhane since the afternoon hours. I never left, I am staying there. There are two exceptions. One of them was yesterday, I went to the Şişli Municipality and Resul Emrah Şahan, his valuable family, and Esin Hanım. Today, I came here to support the municipal workers, whom our valuable president is proud of and whom I am also proud of each one of them, and the council group, to be by their side. Now I am going to visit the Çalık family, not to say get well soon to the family of Çalık who raised such a child, to his child and his wife, but to thank them for having such a father, such a child, and such a spouse.

'SARAÇHANE IS PRESIDENT EKREM'S TRUST'

We are in Saraçhane again this evening. Saraçhane is the trust of the people of Istanbul to President Ekrem. President Ekrem has defeated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan four times so far, one here, one in 2019, the third in the repeat election when his certificate of election was canceled, and the fourth this time. Because Tayyip Bey knows that Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has never been defeated by him, will defeat him once again, I say this very confidently from here, Tayyip Bey woke up from his sleep again last night. He woke up with a very deep and strong voice. He couldn't sleep again as he heard that voice. Do you know whose voice that is? It's not any of ours, it's his own voice. This voice is keeping him awake: 'He who wins Istanbul, wins Turkey.' The voice of 'He who loses Istanbul, loses Turkey. He who wins Istanbul, wins Turkey' is keeping him awake. That's why I say it clearly from here. Neither a thief, nor a corrupt person, nor a terrorist comes out of Mr. Ekrem or Mr. Murat. It's as if Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said 'Terrorist organization leader' to his own Chief of General Staff with the FETÖ prosecutors you appointed yourself. He who makes that slander will make any slander. This nation believes in your children, not you.

My last word is to Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya and Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç. I repeat the call I made last night here today. I say to everyone who hears my voice, everyone who loves President Ekrem, everyone who loves President Murat, everyone who loves democracy, loves their country, loves Atatürk, I invite you to the streets and squares this evening in a way that our provincial mayors in 21 provinces, our metropolitan mayors in 14 metropolitan cities, and our provincial chairmen in 81 provinces will participate, and we will all pour into the streets and squares. Today, cowards are clinging to lies, cowards are tweeting, making statements.

'I INVITE YOU TO EXERCISE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT'

He says, 'Calling to the street is irresponsibility.' Our call, we said the same words yesterday, we are saying it now: Not to burn, not to destroy, but to join arms; not to fight, but to protect our children; to flow into the streets as millions in a democratic way, to show our democratic reaction with peaceful demonstrations, and to exercise our Constitutional right. To those who say 'Sir, inviting to the street is irresponsibility,' I say this: It is not us who fill these streets and these squares, it is your lawlessness and the injustices you commit. Those who give unlawful orders to the police despite the Constitution, those who ban demonstrations that should not be banned, those who put the police in front of my dear students, and those who bring police from Ankara here because the police of Istanbul, their children, are not enough, make them work for 12 hours, and make them miserable... The Republican People's Party protects all the children of Turkey, its students, workers, farmers, civil servants, and police. You who manage the state like a criminal organization, you are neither statesmen nor people of the nation. Get out of here.

'I INVITE ALL OF TURKEY TO THE SQUARES'

I invite all of Turkey to the great rallies, squares, and streets that we will hold in 81 provinces and 973 districts this evening after iftar, after 20.30. We are never afraid. We will not shrink. I have only one warning. Every kind of reaction is a right. For heaven's sake, no matter how much you are provoked, even if unlawful orders are sometimes given to the police, you yourselves prevent the actions that will be taken by some structures infiltrated into the state or ill-intentioned perception operators, not against our police, nor against some who are with us, among us, but to make you look unfair. It is not to attack the police, of course, if there is an unlawful order to enter the square that is our right, we will walk through. But if there is anyone who puts a barrier in front of us with an order contrary to the law, tear it down without harming the police. Go through.

President Ekrem and President Murat are entrusted to Beylikdüzü, Istanbul, our people, and our nation. I am calling out to all of Turkey from here. The first President of the Republic we founded is Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The President of the first elections to be held, the next President, is Ekrem İmamoğlu. Today we are facing an attempted coup. There is an attempted coup against the next President, the next Republican government, and the next power. I entrust our President, Ekrem İmamoğlu, to our nation. Without breaking, without destroying, without falling into an unfair position while being right, may your path be open. May our path be open. I trust you all.''