Mustafa Mutlu's local election commentary in the 12punto studio: 'This election is between anger and panic...'

Journalist Mustafa Mutlu has returned to the screen with 12punto. Participating in Yorum 12, Mutlu explained President Erdoğan's insistence on a new constitution.

12punto.com.tr, the island of free journalism, continues to ask the unaskable and discuss the undiscussable. In the new program Yorum 12, Betül Begümhan Aydoğan will discuss the agenda with 12punto.com.tr contributors and guests.

Aydoğan's first guest was 12punto contributor, veteran journalist and broadcaster Mustafa Mutlu.

"OPPOSITION CHANNELS ALSO HAVE LISTS"

Emphasizing that not only the government but also the opposition now has a 'who to put on screen' list, Mutlu also explained the founding purpose of 12punto.

Highlighting that many journalists have been pushed out of the system, Mutlu said the following:

“Many of our colleagues who try to implement the Turkish Journalists' Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities have been left outside the system. We cannot see or hear 10 thousand people. Who can we see and hear? The people the system wants us to see and hear. It is not just the government; the opposition also has its own power structure. There are certain lists on opposition channels as well. Journalists, politicians, scientists, and legal experts who are on those red lists are brought onto the screen. If you take money for news, you dance to the tune of the person who pays that money.

12punto is the place where a portion of the approximately 10 thousand real journalists like me say, 'Enough is enough, we also want to ask questions, we also have things to tell. We also have to work.'

We cannot do any job other than journalism. I am a journalist; I exist with my pen, my ideas, and my questions.

We are in such a system. So-called journalists are handed the questions they are to ask. Current journalists cannot even read those questions. A real journalist is not one who interprets, but one who asks the question, 'Who will win the election?'

Current colleagues make some people win and others lose the election according to the sources they are fed by.

Please support 12punto. 12punto was established as a platform where independent, real journalists—journalists who ask questions rather than provide commentary, and who abide by the declaration of journalistic rights and responsibilities at the cost of their lives—can breathe. We will continue to shout the truth here. We will ask the journalist's questions. Whether we get answers or not, we will continue to ask these questions as long as this institution exists.”

“WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED ERDOĞAN HUNDREDS OF TIMES”

Mutlu answered the question, ‘Have you ever encountered President Erdoğan?’ with these words:

“I encountered him once when I was an executive at the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC). Other than that, I have not encountered him again. Even if we haven't come face to face, we have encountered each other hundreds of times in courts. He was always the plaintiff, and I was the defendant.”

THE REASON FOR ERDOĞAN'S INSISTENCE ON A NEW CONSTITUTION

Touching upon the issue that the government will accelerate new constitution efforts if the AKP emerges successful from the local elections, Mutlu explained Erdoğan's insistence on a new constitution with these words:

“He wants to be saved from being judged for having acted against the laws one day. Just like Kenan Evren, the strongman of his time. Just as Evren was tried and convicted, Erdoğan wants to be saved from being tried and held accountable once he leaves this seat. He wants to extend the duration of his throne by 5 more years. He will be a candidate for the fourth time, and the fifth time, as long as his health permits.”

IF THE COURT OF CASSATION DID ITS DUTY

Everything the President of Religious Affairs says and every attitude he takes is against all the principles of the constitution. There is such a President that if the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation were doing his duty, hundreds of lawsuits should have been filed by now.

The Republic of Turkey needs to return to its founding settings. In every field. I cannot see this in the party founded by Atatürk right now. By saying, 'Let's get some votes from religious voters,' it is betraying Atatürk's principles and revolutions.

Mustafa Mutlu continued his words on Yorum12 as follows:

“The management in the CHP has changed, but the mentality has not. Nothing has changed. Kemalists are still on the outside. People who favor a mixed economy and production are still sidelined. Do you think the CHP has changed?”

“Whichever party it is, the rich will win this election all over Turkey. Because the poor could not become candidates.”

“THE ELECTION IS BETWEEN THE ANGRY AND THE PANICKED”

“This election is between anger and panic. The anger is our anger. It is a fight between the anger of people who have been suppressed, left helpless, and stripped of all their rights for 22 years, and the people who are experiencing the panic of losing power. I don't believe in polls. He who pays the piper calls the tune. A candidate whose name you haven't even heard has a polling firm prepare such a report that you say, 'He definitely won the election.' After the election, you see he got 5 percent. Just as everything has deteriorated, polling firms have also deteriorated.

I trust my observations. It seems like the anger weighs a little more.”

THE ALLIANCE OF THE HELPLESS

“The People's Alliance is the CHP's rhetoric. I will call it the 'alliance of the helpless.' It will be the alliance of the helpless who want to be saved from the oppression of the AKP. If Istanbul is captured by the AKP again, every morning when I wake up and go out into the street, I will start seeing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's photo on the utility poles again. This is enough of a nightmare for me. That's why I will vote for the candidate who does not include Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”

ERDOĞAN WANTS TO CLEANSE THE STAIN OF LOSING

“Do you really think that the resources in Istanbul have not been transferred to those sects and communities in the last 5 years? Those resources were transferred from somewhere else, if not from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, then from the Ministry of Health, etc. They won't go hungry. Their mill will not remain without wheat. Istanbul has a massive budget. You cannot win an election without winning Istanbul. Erdoğan's biggest career wound is losing Istanbul. He, who has never experienced an election defeat in his personal career, was defeated twice in Istanbul. Now he wants to cleanse that stain.”

Can we say that İmamoğlu managed Istanbul in the last 5 years? We cannot. He worked with AKP and MHP council members. He couldn't even increase the number of taxis in Istanbul."