She had called Özgür Özel 'Co-Chair': Statement from DEM Party's Hatimoğulları

DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları clarified the remark she made during Özgür Özel's visit to her party, where she said, 'I felt like calling you the CHP Co-Chair.'

Speaking to Ayşe Sayın from BBC Turkish, Hatimoğulları responded to the question: 'During your party's visit, you said to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, "I felt like calling you the CHP co-chair." Who you meant was widely debated, and there were even comments that you meant "Ekrem İmamoğlu." Who did you mean?'

"IT WAS A SLIP OF THE TONGUE"

Hatimoğulları stated the following:

'They say one becomes speechless; people drew such meanings from something like this. Now, we have a habit of speech, a slip of the tongue. For example, in the past, I was involved in the party's diplomatic efforts. I was a member of the Foreign Affairs Commission. And everywhere we went, both in the Middle East and in the West, such slips of the tongue have occurred; we have said "Co-Chair."

Actually, when I started speaking, my tongue slipped, and "co-chair" came out of my mouth. This is a slip of the tongue that we let slip in many places, both domestically and abroad. I wish that all political parties in Turkey, regardless of whether they are left or right, would switch to a co-chair system. I even think that ministries should have co-ministers. It was entirely a slip of the tongue related to that. However, very different meanings were derived. In our party, a co-chair is already represented as one woman and one man. I would not mean two men as co-chairs anyway. Of course, I leave this to the commentators' own imaginations.'