Debate in IMM Assembly over İmamoğlu's detention: 'CHP members started the operation'

IMM Deputy President Nuri Aslan stated, "We are all here as people elected by the will of the nation. However, unfortunately, the will of the nation is not being fully reflected in Turkey's second-largest assembly." CHP council members attended the session wearing lapel pins that read "Ekrem İmamoğlu's companions."

Aslan, who presided over the session, reacted to the arrest of IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu and other mayors in his opening speech.

Aslan said, "We are all here as people elected by the will of the nation. However, unfortunately, the will of the nation is not being fully reflected in Turkey's second-largest assembly. Our IMM president, our mayors, and our council members are prisoners. They are being tried while in detention based on secret witness testimonies without concrete evidence. We know that the main goal is to prevent İmamoğlu's presidential candidacy. Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation."

DESCRIBED THE ARREST DECISION AS A COUP ATTEMPT

According to the report by Özlem Güvemli from Nefes, CHP Group Deputy Chair Ülkü İnanlı described İmamoğlu's arrest as a coup attempt and drew attention to the support given by millions who want İmamoğlu to be a presidential candidate. İnanlı stated the following:

As the CHP, we did not just determine a candidate in Turkey; we laid the foundations of a new political understanding based on democracy, justice, and the will of the people. We said, 'The future of Turkey is not written in palaces, but in the ballot box of the people.' Today, Turkey has embraced a leader who is a symbol of justice and change. Mr. Ekrem İmamoğlu is the candidate of Turkey, not just of Istanbul, by the will of the nation. In the coming period, we will govern Turkey with populist, democratic, and meritocratic cadres.

The leader of these cadres is this man of the people who has found a place in the hearts of the nation. The primary election process was the strongest indicator of our nation's commitment to democracy. Together with our 1 million 650 thousand members, a total of 15.5 million people flowed like a flood to our membership and solidarity ballot boxes. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has captured the hearts of millions, is now the candidate not only of the CHP but of all of Turkey. This will was established at the ballot box, not behind closed doors. This is the trust of the people.

The ballot box must be brought before the nation without delay. For this, we are calling for an early election with millions of signatures and are standing up for the will of the people. We are now walking together against civil coups, the judicial stick, and the one-man regime. We will win because we are right. This struggle is the struggle of the nation. Now, we are starting over for Turkey.

"CHP MEMBERS STARTED THE OPERATION"

AKP Group Deputy Chair Faruk Gökkuş took the floor and claimed that the evidence leading to İmamoğlu's arrest was brought to the judiciary by CHP members, saying:

It was CHP members who started the corruption and bribery operation. This is not a political operation; it is a judicial process that has not yet been completed. Is there anyone in the world who declares themselves a presidential candidate 3 years before the election? He was made a candidate to put pressure on the judiciary. You are the informants of the ongoing judicial process, and you are the ones being tried. Do not politicize the judiciary.

Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation, but those who are elected do not have the freedom to commit crimes. Let the truth come out. I hope our president has not committed a crime; let him come out and we will welcome him here," he said.

İnanlı drew attention to Gökkuş's comment regarding İmamoğlu becoming a candidate 3 years before the election, saying, "That is the issue. This happened to him because he became a candidate. You were afraid, you panicked.

"ONE FOR CORRUPTION, THE OTHER FOR A POEM"

Aslan, who presided over the session, emphasized that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not arrested when he was IMM President without a finalized decision against him, and that he remained in office while being tried, saying, "The President is not just your president, but the president of all of us. Just as he came through elections, he will leave through elections. We are waiting for that day. We want the same law that was applied to the President of that day to be applied to today's IMM President."

Gökkuş argued that no IMM President in Istanbul's history had been accused with the allegations directed at İmamoğlu, responding, "One was accused of corruption, the other of reading a poem."

İnanlı drew attention to the accusations in the cases filed against Erdoğan when he was IMM President, saying, "The accusations against him were: forming and managing an organization to commit crimes, qualified embezzlement, and taking bribes. There was not a single secret witness; it was all documented. He was tried and somehow acquitted. He was not detained or arrested for a single day. I am not criticizing; this is the correct way," she said.

At this point, verbal tension occurred among the council members.

"THERE WERE NO SECRET WITNESSES, THERE WAS TORTURE"

Gökkuş claimed, "She is right, there were no secret witnesses in that period, there was torture," and added, "We did not say about the president, 'He is guilty, let him be convicted.' We said, 'There are allegations.' That decision belongs to the judiciary. I am stating my wish; let him be tried on these allegations, let him be cleared, let him be acquitted..."

News Source: 12punto