‘The Decision Belongs to the Nation’ rally in Üsküdar... Özgür Özel addresses Erdoğan

The YENİ Party held a “The Decision Belongs to the Nation, Üsküdar Belongs to the Nation” rally at Üsküdar İskele Square to protest the change in administration that occurred after Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested and suspended from office.

Citizens who arrived at the square starting in the evening gathered with Turkish flags, party banners, and posters of Ekrem İmamoğlu. During the rally, the slogan “There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us” was frequently chanted.

The election for the acting mayor of Üsküdar, which was won by CHP member Sibel Tan Çetinkaya following the suspension of Sinem Dedetaş, had been canceled upon the objection of the AKP. Before the new election date set by the Istanbul Governor's Office, two CHP members were arrested, and four members switched to the AKP. In the subsequent election, the People's Alliance's AKP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin won with 23 votes.

YENİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik had argued in a statement after the election that the members who switched to the AKP were pressured through the judiciary. Following the controversies, the party decided to hold a public meeting in Üsküdar.

YENİ Party leader Özgür Özel addressed the citizens by climbing onto the party bus at 19:40. Starting his speech with lines from Grup Yorum’s song “The March of Hunger Grows,” Özel described the square as “the square of those who do not sell out their friends and companions in defiance of slanderers.”

In his speech, emphasizing the ballot box and the will of the voters, Özel said, “We have never stood behind any coup. Even if it were done to someone we do not like at all, we have opposed all coups out of respect for the nation and the ballot box, and we will continue to oppose them.”

I am addressing Erdoğan from here: Is this your democracy, is this your power? Shame on you!

At the rally, a letter sent from prison by the elected Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş, who is being held at the Tekirdağ Karatepe Women's Closed Penal Execution Institution, was also read. The YENİ Party Founding Üsküdar District Chair read the letter to the citizens from the podium.

In her letter, Dedetaş criticized the process regarding the change in municipal administration, stating, “If it had been an election won fairly, I would have congratulated them, but how is that possible! If political courtesy had been in effect, I would have thanked them, but how is that possible! If respect had been shown to the national will, I would have been proud, but how is that possible!”

Drawing attention to the Constitution's provision that “Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation,” Dedetaş stated that the judiciary and the administration should derive their power from the nation, adding, “However, those who cannot win at the ballot box today want to cast a shadow over the collective will of the people.”