CHP İzmir Provincial Chair Gümrükçü: 'The elites have left, the laborers are here' regarding membership loss in İzmir

Gümrükçü made evaluations regarding the party's agenda at a press conference held at the Provincial Headquarters. Arguing that the departures from the CHP are not at the scale reflected in the public eye, Gümrükçü said that the process is being closely monitored both in İzmir and across Turkey.

Gümrükçü spoke as follows:

"Thirty of our district chairs have left. The departures from the party are at the executive level. The political elites of the previous term have left the Republican People's Party. I especially want to underline this word 'elite'. A group of friends, who use the title of 'elected' to portray their positions in the party as if they were determined by the power they received from the grassroots, are leaving the Republican People's Party. We also see that some of our mayor friends are making statements that they remain in the Republican People's Party, that they continue their commitment to the place where they were elected, and that they are maintaining the current situation.

Therefore, at the local government level, at the municipal council member level, there are friends who respect the votes they received from a party, protect the office they were elected to, and will continue their contact with their own base, their own party, and their own citizens, and who will remain loyal to the Republican People's Party. There may be departures from the Republican People's Party after today. There may be people joining the Republican People's Party. We are the laborers of the party. We are friends who have put in the effort in the Republican People's Party from the past to the present. Our provincial executives are like that, I am like that. In the evaluations we have made, if you follow, you will see that the friends we have appointed as district chairs are also in that direction. The elites have left, the laborers are here. They continue to protect the Republic, Atatürk, and the Republican People's Party. We have friends whose names are identified with the CHP. We carry the hope that we will come together with them again as soon as possible."

Making an evaluation regarding the New Party, Gümrükçü expressed the following views:

"This is a structure that has just been approved by the Court of Cassation and whose membership systems have just been opened. Perhaps we will see its members starting from Monday. I also want to draw attention to such a reality. I think they are the ones we need to win over first. There are friends who terminated their party membership for a temporary period, not to join another political party but to show their reaction to the Republican People's Party or to protest the court decision, following the reinstatement of the previous administration after the nullity decision, as if only Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had come to office. We aim to win their hearts back first. There are thousands of our citizens waiting who have come to the Republican People's Party on various occasions, have been kept at the door, have filled out membership forms, but whose memberships were unfortunately not approved by some friends later on. I am calling out to them as well. Our party buildings are open. Everywhere we have assigned our district chairs. So, within a week, you will already see that we will have completed the distribution of the 30 districts."

"They think they can take 69 percent of the party's votes and carry them in their pockets"

Saying, "We have built this party for a hundred years with such sweat and tears," Gümrükçü noted the following:

"We will not allow it to be worn down by anyone. Those who said last month that the Republican People's Party's vote was 70 percent, today, because they have left their posts—perhaps because they were born to be provincial chairs—think they can take 69 percent of the party's votes and carry them in their pockets when they go somewhere else. Today, I am in great sadness because of this separation we are in. If you ask who is happy about this in Turkey, it is that criticized palace government. The palace government in Turkey is happy about this, and unfortunately, I say that those who made this decision are the ones who made them happy. These friends have made the palace government happy. We will continue our struggle with everything we have—with our blood, our life, our money, our property, our friends, our companions, our comrades, with the strength we draw from the history of the Republican People's Party, and with our loyalty to our founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and our belief in the six principles on our emblem and that it is the only program that will save the Republic of Turkey as a political program. And in this process, you will see that the Republican People's Party organization will grow every day. With the work it does every day, it will continue to show its power and weight in İzmir, as it did in the past, both on social media, in the field, and in non-governmental organizations. Do not have the slightest doubt, we will get the Republican People's Party back on its feet.

We will continue to reassign them by appointing the district executive boards, which our thirty district chairs have formed through consultation and participation, and which have been shaped by friends coming from the grassroots of the Republican People's Party, starting from next week. Our women's branches are working. Our youth branches' general chair will also be determined as of today, and it will continue to be reorganized from top to bottom with a structure in which İzmir is also represented heavily, with one, two, or perhaps three people from İzmir in its Central Executive Board (MYK). At the end of all this, as our general chair said, we will start the process of rebuilding the Republican People's Party from the bottom up with the remaining friends, the friends who cling to party law, and the friends who cling to the six arrows, by starting our ordinary convention process in September."

"If they don't know the importance of the parliamentary majority, they will learn"

Pointing out that the CHP majority in the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Council has changed, Gümrükçü said, "If they don't know the importance of the parliamentary majority, they will learn. We will also make the necessary moves for them to learn. If this separation lasts a long time and reflects on the local elections, the people of İzmir will be harmed by the possible consequences and possible negative results of this division in İzmir. We hope that our friends will return from these mistakes as soon as possible. We will continue to fight hand in hand under the roof of the Republican People's Party again. However, if this separation continues like this, I have said it before, politics certainly includes democratic courtesy, but politics also includes competition. Therefore, every political party must protect its own existence... We are currently trying to protect our own existence against an attack, and at the same time, we are obliged to increase our own votes. Politics is mostly done for this. Therefore, whatever is in the interest of our party, including all municipalities, in every municipal council, and whatever is for the benefit of the city's people, we will look after that."

"Cemil Tugay's place is the CHP"

Regarding the allegations that İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Cemil Tugay will switch to the AKP, Utku Gümrükçü made the following evaluation:

"Let me say personally, Cemil Tugay is a person who knows the value of the vote he received and defines himself as a Republican and an Atatürkist. His place is the Republican People's Party. I don't think he will make such a decision. But as I said, everyone makes their own decision and lives their own decision. So, we are open to everyone who wants to establish contact with us. I think we are speaking quite sensibly. Yes, we want to host our Honorable General Chair in İzmir within 45 days. Our Honorable General Chair's agenda is the real problems of Turkey. Among these problems are people working without job security, those who have not been able to secure their right to housing, victims of urban transformation, those who want to get married but cannot, those who want to get a job but cannot, fishermen, farmers, livestock breeders... These are the real problems of Turkey."

News Source: 12punto