Özgür Özel: 'There is no possibility other than the cancellation of the elections in Hatay'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel visited the Çatal Cemetery before the holiday, accompanied by Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek and CHP Manisa Provincial Chairman İlksen Özalper.

First, Chairman Özel visited the grave of Ahmet Bedevi, known as the 'Tarzan of Manisa', and then visited the grave of pharmacist Neşe Gülersoy, who was murdered in 1979, to offer prayers.

Özel, who also visited the graves of his family members one by one to offer prayers, made statements afterwards.

"OUR LINEAGE AND ORIGINS ARE CLEAR"

Özel noted the following regarding his visit:

"We started by visiting the Tarzan of Manisa, Ahmet Bedevi. Together with our Provincial Chairman, our Metropolitan Mayor, my brother, and our political colleagues from the Republican People's Party, we visited both our family elders and the founding provincial chairmen of our party, as well as Neşe Gülersoy and Mete Erdem, who were martyred in the line of duty. Now, we will also visit Cemil Çöllü, the provincial chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party and my pharmacist colleague, who was martyred in the line of duty around the same time. We are heading towards his grave.

We have said it before. We are the children of Manisa. Our family is known, our lineage is known, our origins are known. Our home is known, even the location of our grave is known. We are making this visit as we do every holiday.”

From now on, our Metropolitan Mayor and the mayors elected with him will serve Manisa and its districts fairly, in accordance with the Manisa identity, without making political distinctions. We will provide them with every support we can.”

"HATAY ELECTIONS WILL BE CANCELLED"

Responding to questions about the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality mayoral election, which was won by AK Party candidate Mehmet Öztürk, and the rejection of the objection filed with the YSK, Özel said:

“I would not want to engage in politics on such a day, but we are following every single vote in Hatay. There is a state of complete illegality. Our petition for complete illegality is being prepared. I will personally submit our application for complete illegality to the Supreme Election Council (YSK). It is complete illegality that deceased voters cast ballots, which is more than the margin of difference. It is complete illegality that the reasons for invalid votes, which are 15 times the margin of difference, were not recorded.

It is complete illegality that ranked personnel and police officers, who should not have served at the ballot box, served as ballot box chairmen in many polling stations. I will personally submit our application regarding all of these in the first days following the holiday. There is no possibility other than the cancellation of the Hatay elections. The Hatay elections will be cancelled. They will be held again on the scheduled date.

"DOUBLE STANDARDS WERE APPLIED"

So far, major double standards have been applied. An objection made by the ruling party with the same justification as our rejected objection was accepted. We are expressing our reactions to all of these. After such an election, I do not want to harden the tone. But our silence is not due to our meekness, but our respect. If they push our patience, we will show the necessary reaction. I am having all applications prepared. I am following all of them, including the application for complete illegality. This is a transition period in Hatay. The certificate of election was given unjustly. We are following their every step; they should not attempt any wrongdoing.”

"I ALSO VINDICATE MY HEADSCARFED SISTERS WHO WERE HANDCUFFED BEHIND THEIR BACKS..."

When asked about the Ministry of Trade's decision to impose trade restrictions on Israel, Özel said:

“I spoke about this for 30 days of Ramadan, at almost 30 iftars. They did not listen. Many people, both in and out of politics, spoke, but they did not listen; they denied it. Today it is seen that if there is a restriction, all our claims were true. Trade with Israel is a betrayal of Palestine. We say this once again. Today's decision has vindicated not only me but also my headscarfed sisters who were handcuffed behind their backs.

It has vindicated everyone from the right and left of Turkish politics who objected to this. We are with everyone who voted for the Justice and Development Party in the past but whose conscience could not bear this; we stand by them. We say it once again, the step taken is an important small step. Trade with Israel is a betrayal of Palestine.”