CHP Chairman Özgür Özel: They tried to break Mayor Ekrem's chair and mock him at the palace

The opening ceremony for the Tuzla Municipality's culture, arts, and life center, Tuzla Yaşam Aydınlı, was held today. CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who attended the ceremony, drew attention to the importance of the life center and said the following:

“The Republic is the name of the regime that rebels against the fact that some children are deprived of opportunities simply because their fathers are poor, while others have access to them. We are the party of this rebellion. While some were living in luxury at the palace, treating those in Anatolia as subjects, while people were dying of tremors and diseases, dying of malaria, going blind from tremors to the point where some of our eastern provinces were called 'cities of the blind,' while some had it easy, saying 'What shall I eat tonight?' or 'I am preparing the cheek of the bluefish for you, my Sultan,' we are the party that rebels against the poverty on the other side. That is why we are the CHP. Today, the CHP is the name of the party that rebels against those who, when they came to power, saw even 2 quarter-gold coins as too much for our retirees—whose pensions were worth 8 quarter-gold coins—and now give them a pension worth only 1.5 quarter-gold coins. Many workers who try to support their households on a minimum wage of 22 thousand liras live in this neighborhood. When this government came to power, the minimum wage was 7 quarter-gold coins. Today, a quarter-gold coin is 11 thousand liras. The fact that they turned the minimum wage, which was worth 77 thousand liras before this government came to power, into 22 thousand liras today—the name of the rebellion against this is the CHP.

"THEY HAVE BEEN SHAKING US SINCE THAT DAY"

I promise you. Just as Eren Ali said, 'We will handle this in 1.5 years,' and came here today with his head held high to speak, under a CHP government, all citizens in Aydınlı will attain a humane life, a humane salary, and the pride of being a dignified citizen of the republic. We promise this to you all. Believe me, we are bringing these works to life under very difficult conditions. Why? Before this, the Tuzla Mayor was comfortable. The government was from his own party; he would deposit the Social Security (SGK) money or not. He would pay the taxes or not. He would say, 'What will happen?' And not just him; all AK Party municipalities... They would use all resources as they pleased, saying, 'Will they send an enforcement officer? What will they do? Will they send an enforcement officer?' We came, and we said to Mr. Erdoğan in front of everyone on a live broadcast, 'Shake them up.' They have been shaking us since that day. What are they doing? They are cutting all the taxes and SGK payments that the previous municipality did not pay, all at once, with interest, from our receivables. In other words, my brother Eren Ali did in 1.5 years what they did not do in 11 years with every resource available while they were living in luxury. One must look at it this way.

"WE HAVE BEEN UNDER A COUP-LIKE SIEGE FOR A YEAR"

We, as CHP municipalities, have been under a coup-like siege for exactly one year. Tomorrow is October 30. Tomorrow will be one year. It has been a year since they appointed a trustee to Turkey's largest district, Esenyurt, with a population of over 1 million, and arrested its mayor. Since that day, 18 of my mayors, 12 of whom are in Istanbul, have been in prison. They appointed trustees to 3 of our municipalities, and there is material and moral provocation and pressure on all our municipalities. They are shaking us materially and morally, but thank God, we continue to resist together with our nation like lions. It is essential that those who are elected by vote leave by vote. Mr. Erdoğan was at the head of the country on July 15. He was the President that day, and those who were on good terms with Erdoğan in the past attempted a coup against him that night. The Parliament was closed, and some were enjoying the joy of the coup. They were saying, 'The government will change, we will be saved.' That day, as the party that founded the Parliament, we called them and said, 'Open the Parliament.' We said, 'Let us resist the coup together.' We said, 'Whoever the nation gave the authority to, they shall use it. We stand behind the elected Parliament and democracy. We are the main opposition party until the nation gives us another task in the first elections. While the authority given by the nation stands, we do not look at democracy askew. We do not look at it sideways. We do not engage in opportunism.' Now, some are thanking us for those days. They were saying, 'You showed great democracy.'

"YOU DEALT THE DEMOCRACY SLAP"

Now, some people told Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was elected with the clean votes of the people of Istanbul and won by a margin of 13,600, 'Can an election be won by a margin of 13,000?' and even though he won the election and was supposed to receive his certificate of election on March 31, 2019, they did not give it for 19 days and had the votes recounted. They saw Ekrem İmamoğlu was ahead. This time, they canceled his certificate and said, 'The election will be held again.' You went to the ballot box, and you made Ekrem İmamoğlu win the election by a margin of 806,000. In other words, they were saying in the repeat election, 'We will deal the Ottoman slap,' but you dealt them the democracy slap. You handed Istanbul over to Ekrem İmamoğlu. For 5 years, Mayor Ekrem worked, and some were envious. For instance, on days when municipal buses did not run, they rented private public buses, burned them falsely, and said, 'The buses of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) and IETT are burning.' For instance, they went and put stones in the escalators working in the subways. They said, 'The stairs stopped, they are not working.' Days came when they lied, saying, 'There are PKK members in İspark.' After so much malice, they tried to break the leg of the chair Mayor Ekrem was supposed to sit on, and while all other mayors were sitting at the palace, they tried to make him fall and mock him, but the people of Istanbul distinguished between their friends and those who are not. You went to the ballot box again on March 31, 2024. This time, you dealt another democracy slap to those who tried to break his chair's leg and mock him, and you re-elected Mayor Ekrem with a margin of 1 million 150 thousand votes. Do we remember all of these?

"WE ARE WAITING FOR THE BALLOT BOX"

Now they are doing new evils. That is, they are saying to you, 'You cannot decide who will govern Istanbul, I decide.' They intend to put Mayor Ekrem in Silivri and appoint a trustee in his place, but this time the people of Istanbul go out to Saraçhane, millions of people show such resistance, such solidarity, such a struggle that they are forced to take a step back. We say patience, we exercise patience. We are waiting for the ballot box. That ballot box, that ballot box entrusted by Atatürk. That ballot box that created the Republic will come, and Aydınlı Neighborhood, Tuzla, Istanbul, and Turkey will show these coup-plotters who the real boss is. In this respect, I trust your conscience. They tell me, 'You are very brave.' By God, I am not brave at all. I am not brave at all. Özgür Özel is the child of two retired teachers, the grandson of a gardener and a civil servant. Not brave or anything. When he sees difficulty, his knees shake.

"EVERYTHING WILL BE VERY BEAUTIFUL"

I derive my strength from being the Chairman of Atatürk's party, the CHP, and from you who defend the Republic. I derive it from your belief in democracy. Protect democracy. Protect the Republic. Protect your right to vote and be elected. Protect those you have elected. You will see, everything will be very beautiful. Development comes with democracy. Poverty goes away with democracy. You will see, against those who make the world's richest, most advantageous, and best country experience poverty that does not exist in Europe, we will build a country together that is governed like Europe and is richer and stronger than Europe in the shortest time possible. I believe in this with all my heart. I celebrate Tuzla's Republic Day. Long live the republic, long live democracy, long live our free, rich, and strong Turkey of the future.”

News Source: 12punto