Massive rally in CHP: Citizens flock to Maltepe for İmamoğlu

TBB and IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu was removed from his duties by the decision of the Ministry of Interior and arrested and sent to prison on March 23 after being accused of corruption.

While protest actions have continued across the country since March 19, when İmamoğlu was detained in a dawn operation, the Republican People's Party (CHP) decided to hold a massive rally in Maltepe following the ones in Saraçhane.

Citizens flocked to Maltepe early in the morning for the rally, which started at 12:00.

(Photos: Gamze Tamer - 12punto)

12punto is reporting the developments in the area moment by moment.

IMM President İmamoğlu, who is being held in Silivri, also called for the rally to be held in Maltepe. Citizens began taking their places in the area hours before the meeting, which was organized under the slogan "Freedom for our Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu."

WHICH PARTIES WILL PARTICIPATE?

The Labor Party (EMEP), the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), and the Left Party also announced that they would participate in the Maltepe rally organized at the call of the CHP. While EMEP called for support with the words, “There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us! Let's meet at the Maltepe rally,” TİP invited citizens to the area by saying, “To Maltepe for the people's will!” While the DEM Party shared the message, “We are protecting democracy and the people's will,” the Left Party called for participation in the rally with the words, “We resisted together, we will meet together in Maltepe.”

İMAMOĞLU MASKS NOT ALLOWED

On the other hand, İmamoğlu masks were not allowed into the rally area. Speaking on Sözcü TV, journalist Gülşah İnce said, “They said we cannot take them at the checkpoint. The reason is that they don't want them to be worn on the face. If the issue here is covering the face, there were those who entered with masks worn during the pandemic period. People have sunglasses. If the issue is covering the face, it can also be covered with a t-shirt.”

DİLEK İMAMOĞLU SPOKE

Dilek İmamoğlu, the wife of CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, spoke in Maltepe. İmamoğlu gave the message, 'A handful of people will be defeated, Turkey will win.'

Highlights from İmamoğlu's speech are as follows:

''They are punishing Ekrem, who won the hearts of not only Istanbul but all of Turkey. They know they can never be like him, that's why they are punishing him. Do whatever you want, punishment does not work on Ekrem. I ask you, what wall can be against love?

Let me say at the beginning what I will say at the end. This is just the beginning, the struggle continues. Not for ourselves, but for our children! The struggle for Turkey continues! Tomorrow we will wake up to a holiday morning together. On holidays, we put aside our differences and share our good wishes. We look at life from the bright side. But tomorrow, the holiday of millions of families will be overshadowed by the pain of poverty, injustice, and despair.

The holiday joy of those who cannot give pocket money to their children or grandchildren as they wish due to the cost of living, those who lost their loved ones in earthquakes and fires due to negligence, those who seek justice and cannot find it, those whose rights are violated, and those who are imprisoned behind four walls despite not deserving it, will be incomplete!

Our family, our family too will enter this holiday away from their father. My daughter and my sons will not be able to be side by side with their father.''

MANSUR YAVAŞ: 'WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE REPUBLIC'

Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş took the stage after Dilek İmamoğlu and addressed the citizens.

Stating that the nation says 'everything will be very beautiful', Yavaş used the following expressions:

"We are the ones who have a right to the stone and soil of this country. We are the children of Mustafa Kemal. Greetings to Mayor Ekrem as the hundreds of thousands gathered here. A brother of ours, who won Istanbul with the votes of this people and has no concern other than the people, has been unlawfully arrested. This is no longer one person's case, it is the people's case. Hope is being punished. There is no work, no justice, no law...

Our brother, who won Istanbul with the votes of the people, is being unlawfully silenced. Because this nation said, 'Everything will be very beautiful!' We know that; an injustice done to one person is an injustice done to the whole society. In this country, hope no longer rises when the sun rises in the morning. Our youth say, 'We want to live in another country, not this one.' After the injustice done to Mayor Ekrem, the first demand for democracy and justice came from those young people. We also took to the squares with Turkish flags in our hands in our time. Our leader was also Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, just like the youth of today.

Mayor Ekrem also said, 'Let Silivri be closed.' Let Silivri be closed, let Silivri be closed, let Silivri be closed! As hundreds of thousands, we demand that the arrested youth be released. Everything will be very beautiful."

ÖZGÜR ÇELİK READ İMAMOĞLU'S LETTER

After Yavaş, CHP Istanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik took the microphone.

Çelik read the letter of IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is being held in Silivri:

"I know that not everyone is here for Ekrem İmamoğlu. The issue is a matter of the country, a matter of justice, democracy, and freedom. It is a matter of education, production, and sharing. Young people experience the anxiety of the future the most. They are the ones who feel most that their lives are slipping through their fingers. A person who does not understand the youth must constantly divide in order to remain in power. Young people want whoever wins to win by the strength of their own wrist. That is why the voices of the youth are heard more than anyone else. I am proud of all the youth. The youth say to Erdoğan, 'Do not reach out to the will of the citizen.' Erdoğan turns a deaf ear to these voices. Even though he does everything himself, he never takes responsibility."

THE REST OF THE LETTER WAS LISTENED TO WITH İMAMOĞLU'S VOICE

The rest of the letter was listened to with İmamoğlu's voice using artificial intelligence technology.

In the continuation of the letter, İmamoğlu used the following expressions:

'I am not afraid at all because our noble nation has united. The separation is over. The youth are on their feet. Women are on their feet. This nation has shown that it will not surrender. I shout from my vast cell: The nation is great!'

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL ADDRESSED THE CITIZENS

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel gave a speech at the Freedom for İmamoğlu rally in Maltepe.

Here are the highlights from the CHP leader's speech:

''Hello to those who stand tall against the coup attempt of March 19, to those who protect their country, their nation, and their future, to those who are not afraid, who do not cower, who do not take a step back, to all the colors of the Turkey alliance who have the love of homeland, nation, and flag in their hearts, to the millions who do not surrender to the handful of tyrants before us.

'WE WILL DEFEAT THOSE WHO STAGED THE COUP'

Hello to Sincan, Edirne, Silivri, Kandıra, to the mayors, municipal council members, politicians, and most of all to the students who are the hope of our future. Everyone can go to their hometown, they can go on vacation if they have money. Coming here today to gather in this square, to reveal this will, they said 'this great struggle will falter,' but the millions who ran to Saraçhane in defiance of those who tried to leave Istanbul's will alone by almost banning going out on the streets after what happened on March 19, including our friends lying in Silivri and us, showed us that anxiety and fear are now things of the past. We are on the streets, we are in the squares.

There is not just a rally here today. There are rallies at all metro stations, Marmaray stations. We will defeat those who see democracy as a tool to realize the dream of not leaving with the ballot box even though they came with the ballot box, and who stage a coup against their successor to prevent the next president. We will never surrender this beautiful country to them. The nation started the process of changing the government on March 31. Ekrem İmamoğlu defeated Erdoğan and the candidates, parliamentary speakers, prime ministers, and ministers he put against him 1 time in Beylikdüzü and 3 times in Istanbul.

'NO TO ONE-MAN RULE, NO TO DICTATORSHIP'

We saw this process not as a victory, not as arrogance, not as enjoying the taste of winning, but as a duty. We continued to work in a way worthy of all voters in Turkey and all democrats who supported us at the ballot box. We established a relationship with the valuable but despised voters of the AKP and MHP, without fighting with anyone, without polarizing, and without complying with those who have bad mouths, bad minds, and who shower insults at every opportunity, using the authority we received from the nation. Right before our eyes, he gave the instruction to 'shake them up.' They attempted the insolence of shaking up CHP municipalities.

They detained Mayor Ekrem on March 19 and held him for 4 days. That was a breaking point. Either everyone would sit at home as they expected, or the nation would gain courage against the world's most cowardly attack. It tore down the barricade pulled in front of Istanbul University. The revolutionary voice of ODTÜ was added to the pioneering voice of Istanbul University. All universities were added.

In this process, every night as we multiplied, as we became more crowded, as we marched to Ankara ODTÜ, the struggle grew. 15 and a half million people came and voted. They said, 'No to one-man rule, no to dictatorship, we are the nation, we will win.'

'TURP IS A DISGRACEFUL LIE'

We are holding the biggest meeting in history here. Since the coup plotters are still in power, they are currently standing in the position of a junta over us. We will be in solidarity with Tele 1, Sözcü TV, and Halk TV, whose licenses are being tried to be canceled with various penalties.

I am making the biggest challenge in history to Erdoğan. Mayor Ekrem says let my trial be broadcast live on TRT. I want my candidate by my side, the ballot box in front of me. No witnesses, no evidence, no proof. Secret witnesses inherited from FETÖ. Turp (Radish) are disgraceful lies invented by Tayyip. You are the biggest radish, Erdoğan, you are."

I am making the biggest challenge in history to Erdoğan. Mayor Ekrem says let my trial be broadcast live on TRT. I want my candidate by my side, the ballot box in front of me. No witnesses, no evidence, no proof. Secret witnesses inherited from FETÖ. Turp (Radish) are disgraceful lies invented by Tayyip. You are the biggest radish, Erdoğan, you are.

'MEHMET ŞİMŞEK IS PART OF THIS COUP'

Mehmet Şimşek is also a part of this coup. Mehmet Şimşek has also become a partner in this coup with the coup report he had MASAK prepare. All economic circles in the world have seen that Mehmet Şimşek is a gunman and a hitman at the command of an autocrat. Someone named Mehmet Şimşek has neither reputation nor anything he can contribute to this country. If the victim of the past has become a tyrant, those who defend democracy today and tomorrow will stand in solidarity with all the democrats of the world.''

MUHARREM İNCE ALSO ATTENDED THE RALLY

Memleket Party Chairman Muharrem İnce was also among those who attended the rally. Noting that İmamoğlu was unjustly arrested, İnce participated in the CHP's Freedom for İmamoğlu Rally.

Sharing a post on his X account, İnce stated the following:

''I was in Maltepe to oppose the lawlessness done to Ekrem İmamoğlu, for justice, and for our future.''

News Source: 12punto