The exodus continues: 400 members resign from IYI Party!
A mass resignation earthquake has hit the IYI Party's Aydın organization. 400 members, including IYI Party Didim district executives, have resigned from the party.
İHA
At a press conference held at the IYI Party Didim District Presidency in Aydın, 400 members, including District President Tolga Çetinel, District Women's Branch President Emine Tonbuloğlu, District Youth Branch President Onur Can Keleş, IYI Party Aydın provincial executives Irmak Tezsezener, Mehmet Aldemir, and Efe Yeşilkuş, as well as district executives, resigned from their party.
Making a press statement regarding the mass resignation process, former IYI Party Didim District President and Municipal Council Member Vefa Berk Tezsener stated that he had also resigned from the party and would continue his duties as an independent for a 3-month period.
In his statement, Tezsezener said, "It is a difficult day for all of us. Following the referendum held in 2017, we have worked with great effort and hope since the founding of the IYI Party to re-establish a parliamentary system based on the principle of separation of powers in the country's governance, and we have fought tough battles in line with the values of Atatürk and the Republic. Based on the decision we have taken as a result of the common will of our members, delegates, district president, district board management, and women's and youth branch presidents, we are resigning from our duties in the IYI Party, which we have walked with for over 4 months.
We founded the IYI Party to be a candidate for power and an alternative. However, at the point we have reached, we see with sadness that our party is not aspiring to power. Unfortunately, closing our eyes to the truth does not make the truth disappear. While it is obvious that it is very difficult for political parties to come to power alone under the Presidential Government System, we see with sadness that the decision taken for 'free and independent' politics is not opposition to the government, but opposition to the opposition.
The reason for our resignation and our sadness is our belief in the necessity for the opposition in the country to act together without fighting. While we do not find the decision taken by our General Administrative Board to enter the election as 'free and independent' to be correct, we are choosing to pave the way for the party by deciding to resign because we feel we cannot defend this decision. Each of us has accumulated dozens of friends and companions in the IYI Party. Our friendships will remain forever.
We thank all our fellow travelers who walked with us in this story and trusted us, our provincial president and provincial executives, and our headquarters executives, and by reminding everyone that politics is not a battlefield but an area of consensus, we are parting ways amicably. Our struggle for democracy, which believes in democracy and justice in the light of the principles of our Atatürk and is wholeheartedly committed to the Republic, will continue."