Statement on 'İmamoğlu' from Yeniden Refah: Green light to AKP!

Yeniden Refah Party Deputy Chairman Suat Kılıç said regarding the local election alliance negotiations with the AKP, "There may be a meeting again today between the AK Party and the Yeniden Refah Party. But we do not know what the incoming AK Party delegation will propose from this moment on."

Kılıç spoke at a press conference held at a hotel with his party's Samsun Metropolitan Municipality mayoral candidate Adem Güney and Provincial Chairman İbrahim Yaşar.

2nd İMAMOĞLU ERA

When asked by a journalist whether they still held the same view, recalling that he had previously said they did not want a second İmamoğlu era in Istanbul, Kılıç said the following:

"We previously said, 'We do not want to see a second İmamoğlu era in Istanbul.' We expressed this sentence with careful consideration. I can express the same sentence once again today upon your question. We do not want to see a second İmamoğlu era in Istanbul. It is not enough for us alone to not want this. It is necessary for all our counterparts to be of the same mind. The İmamoğlu era in Istanbul was a period of large-scale borrowing with high interest rates. It was a period when infrastructure was neglected. It was a period when even snow removal efforts were disrupted. The İmamoğlu era in Istanbul was a period when local government contributions to history, culture, and spiritual values were withheld. That is why we do not want to see a second İmamoğlu era in Istanbul again. We stand by what we said."

WILL THERE BE AN ALLIANCE WITH THE AKP?

Upon a journalist's question regarding the local election alliance negotiations with the AKP, Kılıç noted the following:

"Will there be an alliance in Samsun? All parties have announced their candidates. We will not withdraw any of our own candidates to form an alliance with any party. On the contrary, we will strive to announce our district mayoral candidates quickly. But if any other party withdraws its metropolitan mayoral candidate in our favor, of course, they are welcome. At that point, an alliance in terms of Samsun would not manifest as us withdrawing from the race in any way. As the Yeniden Refah Party, we stated from the very beginning that we would not withdraw from the election race anywhere we have announced our candidates. This issue is clear. Subsequently, our Chairman expressed this. They expressed our party's view that we might consider an alliance depending on the demands and proposals that might come, specifically regarding Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir. In this sense, some meetings were held with AK Party delegations."

"A MEETING MAY TAKE PLACE TODAY"

Reminding that they had previously stated they could not be in an alliance with the CHP, Kılıç said:

"AK Party delegations came for meetings. These meetings were conducted between the delegations and then the inter-delegation meetings were cut off. There may be a meeting again today between the AK Party and the Yeniden Refah Party. But we do not know what the incoming AK Party delegation will propose from this moment on. Because the AK Party has announced all its candidates for metropolitan, provincial, and district levels. After the AK Party has announced all its candidates, honestly, they do not have much of an argument or instrument left to propose a cooperation on what basis or principles. The AK Party is eager to accelerate alliance negotiations after announcing all its candidates, but I express that I do not see such an alliance as very possible in these 3 provinces from this moment on. Perhaps it could only be specifically for Istanbul, and even then, the conditions for that from this moment on can only be within the framework that our Chairman, Mr. Fatih Erbakan, deems appropriate."