İrfan Değirmenci to Ozel: A poor copy of Erdogan

Following TİP İstanbul Deputy Sera Kadigil's criticism of the CHP for standing up for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the new legislative year of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, a statement came from Özgür Özel. Ozel said, "One of them comes out and says we won't stand up for anyone... Well, your party's vote is 1.5 percent, and you are getting by with the protest votes that went from us. We transferred every one of your speeches in Parliament to you in the past; I transferred them."

TİP İstanbul Provincial Spokesperson Melis Akyürek responded to Ozel's statement, saying, "Democracy 101: Transferring speaking time to a deputy elected by the people in Parliament only strengthens democracy. We use those words not for our parents' holding companies, but for the interests of the people.

We are the voice of the citizens. Saying 'I will not transfer any more speaking time to those who criticize me' and 'I will silence them even if they speak in the public interest' means that I will continue the existing authoritarian regime. The fact that TİP deputies have not been invited to Halk TV programs for over a year is also part of this embargo. Thank you for exposing yourselves. Get well soon, Mr. Ozgur..."

ANOTHER REACTION FROM DEGIRMENCI

Another reaction to Ozel came from İrfan Değirmenci. Degirmenci, who shared his post with the note, "I exclude the voters who have voted for, supported, and worked for the CHP. These words of mine are only for you, Mr. Özgür Özel," expressed the following:

'A POOR COPY OF ERDOGAN'

The Chairman of the Republican People's Party is not embracing the ruling base, but the government itself, the Palace. And he has embraced and adopted it so much that he has become exactly like it, like a jacket he has put on. He has become an exact replica. While trying to address the ruling base, becoming so similar to the person representing that power that one becomes a poor copy of that person should not be the unfortunate fate of this country. Let no one take offense. I have infinite respect for the Republican People's Party voters, for the voters who have supported the Republican People's Party, for the voters who have walked the streets for years for the CHP, knocked on doors, voted, and collected votes. But if the Chairman of the Republican People's Party thinks he can stay in power as long as Tayyip Erdoğan by acting like Tayyip Erdoğan, he is under a great delusion. Because when the original exists, no one will vote for a poor copy. And you will not get anywhere by competing with conservatives on conservatism, by competing with the Palace on authoritarianism, and by wagging your finger from above at the parties you look down upon, Özgür Özel. Perhaps there are those giving you advice that you should build your political career on this, but rest assured that the beautiful voters of the Republican People's Party are also watching these behaviors of yours with reaction.

'YOU CANNOT LOOK DOWN ON THE 1.5 PERCENT BASE'

You may remember that at the convention where you were elected Chairman, you spoke of leftist values, you said 'the wind is blowing from the left,' you said 'labor,' you said 'justice.' You remember that convention, don't you? You cannot belittle or look down on the 1.5 percent segment that has been paying the price for years, fighting for labor, fighting for the working class, and risking imprisonment, incarceration, being blacklisted, and remaining unemployed, yet never giving up on the path they knew to be right. That 1.5 percent of the vote was not easily won. The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) is the successor to the TİP members who were lynched in Parliament in the 1960s. And in 2024, the CHP Chairman, who calls himself a social democrat and unfortunately also serves as a vice president of the Socialist International, cannot say, 'If I hadn't given you the podium, where would you have found it? Someone has come out and asked why you stood up,' regarding the 1.5 percent vote TİP received. Ruşen Çakır watched Özgür Özel's words in this interview with a smile. For those who haven't watched it, look at the person at the head of the CHP—oh, when I say it like that, I've become like Tayyip Erdoğan, excuse me—look at what the esteemed Chairman of the CHP is saying;

"One of them comes out and says we won't stand up before anyone... Well, the party's vote is 1.5 percent and you get it with the protest votes coming from us. We transferred every one of your speeches in Parliament to you in the past, I transferred them."

'WHO DO THESE ATTITUDES REMIND YOU OF?'

Me, me, talk about me... My podium, my Parliament, my voters, my country... My country, my career, my wealth, my jacket, my chairmanship... Me, you will talk about me the most... Who do these attitudes remind you of? Excuse me, Özgür Özel. I ran in elections twice; once I appeared before the public as a parliamentary candidate, and once as a mayoral candidate. I did not choose the easy path, Özgür Özel. I did not follow the big bosses in the CHP corridors who are richer than me, lobbying by saying, 'Come on, let's topple this chairman and put me in his place.' We chose the difficult path, Özgür Özel; we appeared before the public and knocked on doors one by one so that we could share a dream, a dream of an equal world, a dream of a free world together. Moreover, we did this while we didn't have a penny in our pockets. Furthermore, we didn't put on a victimhood show in front of the aggrieved segments. We never said we were victims; we tried to carry the voice of the aggrieved masses to that Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

'THOSE VOTES WERE NOT EASILY WON'

And do you think that when the TİP deputies, who were not given the right to speak due to the undemocratic internal regulations of Parliament, took the podium, they talked about their party... When they took that podium, they only told of the people's problems; they demanded accountability for the women murdered, the children murdered on that podium. They demanded accountability for the money stolen from the people on that podium. They demanded accountability from the contractors they couldn't get enough of giving tender after tender on that podium. They shouted out the pain that the people they call terrorists are actually suffering on that podium. Those votes were not easily won, Özgür Özel.

'ARE YOU AWARE OF WHAT YOU HAVE TURNED INTO?'

You have been managing politics with a wave coming from the bottom since your youth. Are you aware of what you have turned into? You are deeply upsetting those who believe in you, those who have given their hearts to you... We collected those votes by knocking on the people's doors one by one and, yes, by valuing every single vote, including protest votes. We got those votes while we didn't have large propaganda funds, with our own efforts, through solidarity, and with the gas money we could afford through the contributions of our comrades, in election cars we traveled in. I received 6 percent of the vote in Çankaya in the last local elections. Do you know that in that local election, where you covered every place with Hüseyin Can's posters, we had to hold meeting after meeting just to find the money to print a single flyer? Özgür Özel, we did not collect those votes while living in luxury. And you cannot belittle the fact that the socialist movement has received one million votes in Turkish political history.

'MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND'

The will that elected you chairman at the party congress is the will of the CHP base, which you excited by saying 'the wind is blowing from the left.' And that CHP base knows very well how to change a chairman it does not like. That CHP base will give the necessary response to a chairman who targets a political party that stands for the left and labor while the Palace regime is still in power. Neither my upbringing allows me to say more, nor is it worth stealing the time of my viewers, whom I value. I think these words are more than enough for those who understand..."

News Source: 12punto