Prison visit to İmamoğlu! Statement from DEM Party: 'Fair trial is a must'

The DEM Party delegation, which visited IMM Mayor and presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, is making statements.

DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan:

"Today, together with our Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları and our Batman deputy and Deputy Co-Chair Mr. Mehmet Tiryaki, we held a series of meetings with Mr. İmamoğlu as well as other mayors, deputies, and political prisoners being tried in other cases.

There is no need to explain prisons at great length. The biggest, bleeding wound of prisons is long-term detention and unfair trials.

This was one of the most fundamental issues raised by all the friends we met with. I hope that in the coming period, there will be trials without detention. There will be fair trials.

Political trials will come to an end. But alongside all these negatives, something very positive and very important happened today.

All the prisoners we met with, especially Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu, said that they care about this ongoing process, that they support this process, that the success of this process would be in Turkey's interest, and that they would gladly do whatever falls to them to ensure the success of this ongoing process.

This was very precious, very valuable. The fact that political prisoners, who are inside for various reasons, for political reasons, expressed this thought gave us great hope and made us very happy. Normally, people in prison approach this process more negatively.

I hope that in the coming period, each of us will properly fulfill our duties and responsibilities for this process, which is supported not only by prisoners but also by society.

Developments in the Middle East and the world actually place a great responsibility on us for this process to succeed. We say that by fulfilling this responsibility, by resolving these problems mentioned by the prisoners in these prisons, we will all experience a process together where there are no more political trials, where the law and the judiciary act impartially and independently, where there is no detention for the slightest issue, and where there are no appointed trustees.

The friends sent their best regards. Their health and morale were quite good. We asked about them, but they asked us about the process. They said the process is moving a bit slowly. They said the process needs to be accelerated. These were precious, valuable..."

DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları:

"Dear members of the press, our dear peoples watching us on their screens, I greet you all with respect and love.

Yes, today we visited a total of 9 fellow prisoners, including Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu. As our Co-Chair stated, we visited 9 people who are in prison for political reasons, simply because they were elected and because of their political views, and who are being tried in different files.

Of course, there were also messages that Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu sent to the outside. He sent his greetings and love to all the peoples of Turkey.

And in particular, I would like to share with you a few points that Mr. İmamoğlu expressed concretely. First, he said that despite all the negative processes taking place in Turkey and the region, the economic crises in Turkey, anti-democratic practices, and the entire negative atmosphere of the Iran-Israel war that has started in the region, what gives us the most hope and excitement is that we are currently talking about peace in Turkey.

This is a very important emphasis indeed. Another important emphasis was that peace and democracy are tightly linked to each other.

Indeed, from the very beginning of this process, the call made by Mr. Öcalan expressed exactly this. The name of this call is the Call for Peace and Democratic Society. Because we know that as a country democratizes, it ensures peace, and as it establishes peace, it ensures democracy.

Especially the message expressed by Mr. İmamoğlu again, that discrimination does not suit Turkey and that we must heal every place in the country that is suffering, was very important and meaningful. Fortifying the internal front is possible by granting the right to life to all differences in Turkey.

This is also the minimum condition for democracy. As the DEM Party, in this period when peace is being discussed and we are so close to peace, we felt the sense of peace, joy, and excitement that the people in prison are holding onto tightly, and I believe all our fellow prisoners felt it too.

They all have this excitement, this hope, and a very hopeful expectation. They had some assessments that the process is moving slowly. We also stated that this process must be carried forward with patience and effort.

Together with our delegation, we provided information to all the prisoners we met in prison about the process and exchanged views and made assessments. Today, the approach of the people in prison is very clearly as follows: We must all together establish a peace where all differences in Turkey can coexist.

Mr. İmamoğlu also expressed this. We are all ready to work and strive for peace from where we are, inside or outside. This is a very important opportunity seized in the history of Turkey.

The approach that we must all protect this opportunity together is truly very valuable and precious. And especially, friends, our Co-Chair mentioned the independence of the judiciary a moment ago. The biggest complaint of the friends in prison is that the judiciary has become highly politicized, and the operations carried out against elected officials are the most fundamental indicators of anti-democratic practices in Turkey. Because we know very well that the right to vote and be elected is the indispensable minimum condition of democracy. People cannot be in prisons because of these conditions, that is, because they were elected or because they voted, or because they took part in the city consensus, that is, because they conducted politics on a democratic ground, and we will make every effort to ensure that this peace process covers all segments of society, including the opposition, and that peace is established and becomes permanent in these lands in the widest spectrum. This is also the message of our friends in prison."