İmamoğlu speaks from Silivri: We will chart a path to restore our nation and state to the days they deserve

In his video message, İmamoğlu addressed various topics ranging from the judicial process to the NATO Summit. Stating that "Turkey is facing a multi-faceted threat of judicial collapse," İmamoğlu also reacted to Erdoğan's foreign policy and the refusal to broadcast the hearings live.

Starting his remarks with a reaction to not being able to present a defense in the IMM case, which he delivered via AI-generated voice, İmamoğlu said the following:

"Dear young people, they are so desperate that the prosecution has no questions to ask me. The court panel has no questions either. The only way is to not let me present a defense, so that no one can hear Ekrem. There is one and a half days, eight hours available. They tell me, 'present your defense.' Present a defense against 143 criminal charges and 4,000 pages of nonsense in such a short time.

Ekrem İmamoğlu will present a defense, three lawyers will present a defense; the prosecutor, the judge, the defendants, and the defense attorneys will ask questions. All in seven to eight hours. It is such a short time that I am given almost only three minutes to defend myself for each charge they have leveled against me."

"THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A 'MINISTRY OF COLLAPSE'"

Recalling that the request to broadcast the hearings live was rejected by the votes of MHP and AKP deputies despite a positive call from MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, İmamoğlu continued his words as follows:

"Erdoğan, who fears live broadcasts and his opponent, and who is the architect of all these files; has gone down in history as the perpetrator of this peak of lawlessness organized by the Minister of Justice, who is a candidate to be his successor, and of the legal murders committed in every judicial process. Turkey is facing a multi-faceted threat of judicial collapse. This threat does not discriminate between businesspeople, artists, journalists, dissidents, students, politicians, mayors, or presidential candidates. Practices that disregard everyone's rights and freedoms are looming over our nation. The Ministry of Justice has been turned into a 'Ministry of Collapse'."

"A PRESIDENT DIZZY FROM ZIGZAGGING"

Evaluating the NATO Leaders' Summit held in Ankara, İmamoğlu drew attention to US President Donald Trump's remarks regarding AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and said:

"While Turkey is experiencing this judicial disgrace, world leaders came and went. What is the result? Trump, who said, 'I cannot say Erdoğan is friends with Netanyahu, but he left Israel alone, he is a wonderful ally. They have the largest land forces ready to fight,' has said that he would provide the engines for the F-35s we paid for and the KAAN aircraft we contracted. How interesting! Erdoğan, who years and years ago said, 'Turkey does not have to bow to pressure regarding the S-400s,' has now reached the point of hurriedly looking for a country to give the S-400s to. Aside from accounting for the 10-year embargo we experienced due to CAATSA sanctions and the billions of dollars we gave for the S-400s that essentially went to waste; this disgrace has become something to be celebrated with drums and pipes. What a great success!

A president dizzy from zigzagging. Erdoğan, who hides and obscures Ankara, isolates it from world leaders, cannot mingle with his own people, and hosts his guests in a 1,150-room palace to show off his own 'personal' world. Even more interesting is that after the Minister of Justice, who was eager to lecture those who reported on the injustices in Turkey before the NATO summit, Erdoğan received a phone call: A US President mocking our justice system by saying, 'They released Pastor Brunson.' It is very painful. This picture is very painful for Turkey.

"ERDOĞAN HAS BECOME A PRISONER OF THIS WILL-LESS POLITICS"

F-35s, KAAN engines, the lifting of sanctions, and a respectable position in NATO are this country's right and goal to the end. It is fixed by contracts. Erdoğan, who uses this state like his toy, who seems to enjoy the 'I did it, it happened' mentality, and who leaves no institutions, rules, or principles standing; can continue to play drums and pipes instead of being held accountable if he wishes. But the truth is one. The zigzag diplomacy that this country has been subjected to for years is not a strategic miracle or realpolitik as they try to market to the nation, but a blatant disgrace. The result of this disgrace is a will-less politics that has reached the point of begging across the ocean, expecting legitimacy from there, not hesitating to have random people arrested from left and right for this legitimacy, trying to decide what to wear and how to stand from taxi drivers to tradespeople, and becoming ashamed of the people of its capital.

Erdoğan, who is afraid of his nation, ashamed of it; afraid of his opponent, afraid of his opponent's diplomacy, afraid of his opponent's image, and who falls into the trap of a handful of ambitious people who say 'I will do anything for this fear,' has become a prisoner of this will-less politics. Erdoğan has formed an alliance with a puppet palace trustee he appointed with a fabricated 'nullity' decision; they continue to cooperate in oppression, from operations on our municipalities through judicial branches every day, operations on our CHP provincial building, and interventions with TOMA and pepper spray, to the cooperation they started at the CHP Headquarters, continuing to inflict cruelty on teachers who cannot be appointed, those defending their olive groves, laborers, and those protesting NATO, day by day."

"SO WHAT WILL WE DO?"

"A handful of ambitious people trying to dominate every capillary of Turkey with an empire of fear; have abandoned all responsibilities of the nation and the state, allowed, and even encouraged, the efforts carried out for the continuation of their own dynasties and the 'post-Erdoğan' infighting to dominate Turkey," said İmamoğlu, addressing the youth in the video he shared:

"So what will we do? Under the leadership of Mr. Özgür Özel, who says, 'We will chart a path to restore our nation, our state, and our heavenly homeland to the days they deserve,' we will embark on a journey for a Turkey that restores our people to the days they deserve, develops, finds peace, and prepares for the future with determination.

Dear young people, I am addressing everyone, whether they support us or not. As a leader who has been in prison for more than a year, I love you all very much. Believe me, I am standing tall with the strength that comes from loving you, and every day I am becoming more committed to the struggle we are waging for the future of Turkey with greater determination and strength. I know very well, very well indeed, that you no longer have the patience to even look at what a handful of people blinded by ambition are doing, and that you have reached the point of turning your heads the other way just to be able to breathe. But remember that your breath is stronger than a handful of people. Preserve your strength, your power, your will, and your heart. When they get tired of running for their lives to protect their power, when they have no energy left to speak from fighting with each other, when they start to scatter their own disgrace everywhere, and when every kind of cruelty they produce to prevent Turkey from waking up to a different morning starts to hit them; we will take a deep breath together with you, and we will start a long, calm walk.

What does Atatürk say: 'Love of country is the strongest wind that saves souls.' Thank God that we are travelers of that great love of country that will save our souls. This love is the most beautiful roof that will protect and watch over our entire nation, 86 million people.

'Our path is long, our excitement is high,' I told you years ago. Let it be known, we are all together just at the beginning of the road. I love you all very much, and I am waiting with longing for the day I will reunite with you."

Dear Young People,

Turkey is facing a multi-faceted threat of judicial collapse.

This threat does not discriminate between businesspeople, artists, journalists, dissidents, students, politicians, mayors, or presidential candidates.https://t.co/bKYKcznFL3

— Presidential Candidate Office (@CAOIletisim1) July 13, 2026

News Source: 12punto