Gökhan Zan becomes TİP's Hatay candidate: Calls for a 'Hatay Alliance' to Lütfü Savaş

The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) has nominated Gökhan Zan as its candidate for Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor.

TİP MP Sera Kadıgil announced Gökhan Zan's candidacy, stating, "We had declared that the people of Hatay would not be left without options. We heard the outcry of the people of Hatay, who were left orphaned. They have placed a duty on TİP's shoulders. We are here to bring this voice to you."

Highlights from Gökhan Zan's statements:

"LÜTFÜ SAVAŞ IS AMONG THOSE RESPONSIBLE"

"My esteemed deputies, very valuable members of the press, precious citizens; Hatay is my heart's home. My ancestral land, my heart's home. I grew up with Hatay and the people of Hatay. There were times we shared a single morsel of bread. Hatay is a completely different place for me because it is the most valuable trust of spiritual sentiments.

I have never taken anyone's rights, nor have I remained silent in the face of injustice. Dear citizens; when the clocks showed 4:17 on February 6, some of us died, some of us were left incomplete.

For the first 3 days, there was no one by our side. The people were by our side. I am very grateful to our people who shared a morsel of bread with us, whose hearts beat with ours.

We could not see state institutions or municipalities by our side. AFAD did not come either; we fell into despair.

In those moments, perhaps we were writhing in pain, shivering from the cold. Our people sent whatever they had in their hands and pockets. They pulled out dozens of people.

As is known, it is not the earthquake that kills, but negligence. Yet, we could have been continuing our lives in Hatay with our tens of thousands of people who are not among us today.

The Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor is among those responsible. Instead of stepping down, he has been nominated.

The decision was made without consulting the people of Hatay. The public has placed the real poll in front of the CHP.

I could not cast aside Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's words, 'Hatay is my personal issue.'

"LET US UNITE AROUND THE HATAY ALLIANCE"

As a citizen, I am tired of being forced to choose between the bad and the lesser of two evils. We are setting out on a path; we asked the people of Hatay, together with our friends, the pioneers of social opposition, the youth, and the elderly. We reached a consensus on me becoming the Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayoral candidate under the TİP umbrella around the Hatay Alliance.

I am a candidate against the government and the opposition. I am making 2 calls from here. One is to the CHP; it is unacceptable for you to re-nominate someone whose name is involved in earthquake crimes. None of the polls you conduct will yield more accurate results than the reality that more than 50 thousand of our souls lost their lives in the rubble; do not do this.

My second call is to Mr. Lütfü Savaş. Come, my dear people, withdraw and let us unite around the Hatay Alliance. Let us change the bad course. Our Chairman, Mr. Erkan Baş, had said that he would not leave Hatay without options. As of now, we will start walking with everyone who intends to lift the city up under the guidance of reason and science.

I have earned my living by defending, and now I am a candidate to defend my beloved Hatay. The Asi River flows through Hatay, but I will not let rent-seeking pass, I will not let zoning amnesties pass, and I will never let cronyism pass. I conclude my words with the lines that my friends from the Workers' Party of Turkey inscribed on the walls of Defne: There was a Hatay, there is a Hatay again.

"WE ARE COMING TO UNITE, NOT TO DIVIDE"

12punto's Ercan Küçük asked, "If Lütfü Savaş withdraws from the candidacy or if the CHP gives up on nominating Savaş, would you withdraw from the candidacy?" TİP Deputy Chairman Sera Kadıgil responded. Kadıgil said the following:

"This step we have taken is neither a step against the CHP nor a step against Lütfü Savaş. This step we have taken is a step against the AKP there and the AKP's rent-seeking mentality, and the mentality that continues this rent-seeking under other guises. We are not coming to divide or scatter, but on the contrary, to unite on what is right. For this, of course, when our CHP friends do what is required of them and listen to the voice of the people of Hatay, we are ready to do everything that falls to us, as our candidate has also expressed. Because what is important here is neither TİP nor Gökhan Zan. Neither Barış Atay nor individuals. The only thing that is important here is that the people of Hatay are governed in the way they need and deserve, and that we come together for this cause. That is why we are once again making the call here: 'Come, let us unite on what is right.'"

"GÖKHAN ZAN HAS PUT HIS HAND UNDER THE STONE"

27th Term TİP Hatay MP Barış Atay, when asked why he was not a candidate, replied, "We do not engage in politics through names. I tried to fulfill the duty given to me for a long time. We are doing a collective job together. Yesterday there was the name Barış Atay. Gökhan Zan has put his hand under the stone."