Özgür Özel speaks from Antalya! Sends greetings to İmamoğlu from the Taurus Mountains

The “The Nation Protects Its Will” rallies, launched by the CHP following the arrest of presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, continue. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel addressed the crowd in Kepez, Antalya.

Highlights from Özel's speech are as follows:

"Antalya, as solid as the stones of Aspendos, as dignified as Alanya Castle. Antalya, where the sun meets the earth, history meets people, and the spirit is free. Your wind, coming from the Taurus Mountains, visits the most beautiful, warmest beaches in the world.

We are in the city of agriculture, tourism, culture, and art. We are in the city that Atatürk called 'the most beautiful place in the world.' We are in the city where the sun meets the earth and history meets people. Hello, Antalya!

We came here to take refuge in you from the cruelty of the oppressor, to be reborn in the conscience of Antalya, and to entrust ourselves to the nation here.

Greetings to our Yörük mother who welcomes the morning at the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. To my laborer brother whose forehead is scorched by the sun in the field, to our troubled producer who grows tomatoes in the greenhouse, to the workers who work until morning in tourism... Greetings to each and every one of them.

In the bosom of this city, everyone is a brother. Those who come from the Caucasus are brothers, those who migrate from the Balkans are brothers. They are hosts. Those from the Black Sea are also hosts in this city. Those who come from the Southeast, those who come from Anatolia...

That is why we respect Antalya as the city of those who say 'we,' not those who say 'I.'

We did not come to Antalya today to say 'I,' but to say 'we,' and to stand up together.

Welcome, Antalya, welcome!

"LET EKREM STAND TALL LIKE THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS"

When he heard I was coming to Antalya, a Yörük grandfather with deep lines on his forehead stopped me.

He said: 'When you reach Silivri, tell my son Ekrem this: No oppressor can extinguish the shepherd's star. Let Ekrem stand tall like the Taurus Mountains!'

I told my Yörük grandfather: 'I have taken these words into my heart, I have etched them into my mind. If you allow me, I will convey this to Mayor Ekrem from Antalya, from the square of Antalya.'

So, from here, in your presence, we send these words to Mayor Ekrem. And in the words of the Yörük Grandfather, we all know that the words of Mustafa Kemal are actually hidden.

What had he said? 'Friends, go and look, look at the Taurus Mountains. If you see a Yörük tent there, and if smoke is rising and a hearth is burning in that tent, know very well that no force in the world can ever defeat us.'

And Mayor Ekrem is currently being held in a dungeon for 74 days in the twilight. But we know that every darkness has a light, every trouble and sorrow has a relief, and every bad day has a beautiful tomorrow.

Mayor Ekrem is our shepherd's star. When the day comes, he will shine so brightly that the oppressors will be stunned. Greetings to Silivri. Greetings to Mayor Ekrem. Greetings to the hardworking children of this nation.

"MAYOR EKREM SEES KEPEZ SQUARE"

Mayor Ekrem sees Kepez Square; but what about Erdoğan? Erdoğan, do you see Kepez Square?

You thought you could scare the nation with wave after wave of operations. You thought you could win by putting your rivals in jail. But the more you threatened, the more these squares filled up, and they are filling up!

As you march upon us, new feet are added to our feet, new shoulders to our shoulders, new mouths to our mouths. Because this nation protects its century-old gains and its trust. It received the trust, democracy, and the ballot box from Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and it is not letting you seize that trust, and it will not!

You are afraid of the streets, of the squares. But come and look, is there anyone afraid in this square? It is not me or the Republican People's Party that fills this square...

I am not the head of the junta that staged a coup against the will of this nation, you are. This nation is standing up against your cruelty. The one filling this square, the one standing up against your cruelty, is Antalya! It is Turkey!

Immediately after March 19, we were in Saraçhane for 7 days and 7 nights. Then we were with millions in Maltepe, followed by Samsun, Yozgat, Mersin, Konya, Van, Izmir, Bursa, and Düzce.

There is no old politics anymore. No one has a stronghold anymore: neither Yozgat nor Konya is the AK Party's; neither Izmir nor anywhere else is the CHP's stronghold. All strongholds now belong to the nation.

Let the politics of strongholds, polarization, demonization, and targeting end. This nation wants peace; it wants brotherhood, it wants to embrace. This nation is tired of fighting, this nation is tired of poverty and deprivation.

It wants the time of the children of the homeland to come, not the children of ministers.

There are two types of coups in the world: one is carried out by soldiers, the other by civilians. The goal of all of them is to interrupt democracy. May 27 is this, March 12, September 12; July 15 is this.

And the coup on March 19 is no different; it is a coup just like the others. But this time, there are no soldiers behind it, no boots on the ground; this time, there is someone behind it who is afraid of his rival. A successor movement that has lost the support of the nation has resorted to undemocratic methods to block its successor. Erdoğan was afraid to compete with his rival at the ballot box; this time the coup did not come with boots, but with a judicial robe.

Erdoğan, who suffers from multiple office disorder... has added the title of junta leader to his hats like the presidency and party chairmanship. The headquarters of this coup is Beştepe, its weapon is the judiciary, and its ammunition is slander.

We raised our voices with great courage against his slanders, the judiciary he controls, and the coup he manages from the palace, first from Saraçhane, then from 81 provinces. And we say: The word belongs to the nation.

At the end of 74 days, they are cornered, they are in a panic phase; to get out of this, they switched to a 'slander and get away with it' policy.

They previously threatened female detainees, and we exposed it: Now, they took the last detainee from prison to the prosecutor's office without telling anyone, without a lawyer, and forced him to slander, threatened him, and blackmailed him: 'If you don't accuse Mayor Ekrem, you will rot inside,' they said.

I ask from here: Are you a prosecutor or a mafia? How can you resort to these methods to fill your empty file, to fill this file with slanders?

Finally, in the 5th wave, they detained 47 more people; our Avcılar Mayor, 30-year-old Utku Caner Çaykara, who came from the youth branches, our Gaziosmanpaşa Mayor, dear Hakan, our Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün, our Adana Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin, who came from the women's branches, our Adana Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, our Party Assembly member, my dear brother Baki Aydöner; and Aykut Erdoğdu, were detained with slanders.

I will talk about one of the 24 friends, not Mayor Ekrem. The person had received his diploma from Istanbul University at that time, did his doctorate at the Sorbonne, became the head of the business department at Galatasaray University, educated countless students, but suddenly became a high school graduate with the cancellation of his diploma.

How did it happen? The dean's fault, besides working hard, was being a classmate of Mayor Ekrem. We are facing an administration that turns a dean into a high school graduate just because it is afraid of Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Erdoğan was saying during Ergenekon and Balyoz, 'I am the lawyer of these cases.' He was saying, 'I vouch for Zekeriya Öz.' I vouched for the honorable soldiers and intellectuals of this nation. I vouched for İlker Başbuğ, Mustafa Balbay, and Mehmet Haberal.

Zekeriya Öz ran away like a rat. Those I vouched for are walking among you with their heads held high. Now he is vouching for someone again, and I am vouching for someone. I vouch for Ekrem İmamoğlu. Will he ask for forgiveness from my nation and my Lord again?

I am issuing my final warning to Erdoğan before history: Do not give instructions to such prosecutors and then hide behind them, do not deviate from justice. Because this time, they will not let what you did go unpunished, they will not leave Mayor Ekrem there, we will bring you down, and we will definitely bring him to that office.

In the future, so you don't say 'I was deceived' again, assign 3 lawyers you trust to examine the investigation. If you are going to say 'I am the prosecutor of this case,' then I am its lawyer, I challenge you. Write the indictment, try him without arrest, broadcast it live on TRT. Let this nation hear the slander, and let them hear the answer. Let the nation see how Mayor Ekrem makes that courtroom narrow for that prosecutor.'

I address the honorable members of the judiciary of this country one more time. I know that none of you are pleased with what is being done. Know that this nation will stand behind your correct, conscientious, and courageous decisions.

Those who stand by the law will go down in history with their honor, but these coup plotters will never be able to face people again. Be impartial, follow the law, and go down in history in the hearts of this nation. Follow the law, not those who commit crimes. Be brothers to the nation, not to those who commit crimes."

CHP leader Özgür Özel, following the Izmir rally, opened the archive footage in Antalya as well and had the crowd watch it. Özel used the expressions, "Let's watch. What is the 'Octopus'? Where are its arms?"