Özgür Özel addressed 'AK Youth' in Avcılar: Tell Erdoğan

Following the operations launched against the Republican People's Party (CHP), Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and municipal administrators, the party continues to organize rallies every week in an Istanbul district and a city under the slogan "Defending the National Will."

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel announced that they would hold this week's district rally in Avcılar following the arrest of Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara on the night of June 4.

Citizens and CHP members in Avcılar began filling the area for the rally, which started at 20:30.

Chairman Özgür Özel is expected to deliver a speech following the reading of letters from CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu and the imprisoned mayor, Utku Caner Çaykara.

CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik conveyed İmamoğlu's message:

“Beautiful people whose hearts beat with love for the country, my brave fellow citizens; you are the hope of this country. Despite all kinds of oppression and persecution, you do not take a step back. You are fighting tirelessly so that the requirements of democracy are met and justice is served. You are showing the right path to a government that has gone beyond the rule of law. You are teaching a lesson in courage and dignity to those who have lost their reputation to avoid losing their seats. Turkey's bright, beautiful future will come with you. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart on behalf of our country. Thank you, long live.”

“THEY KNOW VERY WELL THAT THEY WILL NEVER DEFEAT US AT THE BALLOT BOX”

“Dear Istanbulites; since 2019, we have been working with all our might with a very valuable team to make life easier and more beautiful in this city and to ensure justice prevails. Our populist and action-oriented management approach has received great support from you, and with the 2024 elections, our team has grown and strengthened even further. We have served and continue to serve with a sense of mobilization for the happiness of 16 million people, alongside our new mayors like my dear brother, the very young and valuable mayor of Avcılar, Utku Caner Çaykara. The extraordinary performance we have put forward, and the great love and support of Istanbulites, are among the most important reasons for the political operation carried out against us. They know very well that they cannot compete with us in action and service, and that they will never defeat us at the ballot box.”

“WE ARE MORE NUMEROUS THAN THEY CAN IMAGINE”

“That is why they are trying to sideline us through the judiciary, with fabricated allegations and conspiracy cases. They are seizing mayoralties they could not win through elections by usurping the national will. They are not ashamed of what they have done or of the nation, and they celebrate their heartlessness with shouts of joy. But we are more numerous than they can imagine. We are a very large and very strong team, not just in Istanbul, but all over Turkey, with our mayors who manage cities, districts, and towns with justice and merit. As the poet said, ‘We cannot be counted by fingers, we cannot be exhausted by breaking…’ They cannot cope with us by imprisoning or tormenting us. There are millions behind us who will follow and take our place.”

REMEMBERED FERDİ ZEYREK

“Dear fellow citizens; I am writing these lines to you with the deep pain of losing one of our very valuable companions, my dear friend, my brother, Manisa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ferdi Zeyrek. He was our dear brother who managed to win everyone's heart with what he did in 14 months, honest, sincere, hardworking, successful, and devoted to Manisa and his country. May he rest in peace. My condolences once again to his family, his loved ones, our fellow citizens of Manisa, and our nation. Defending the values to which he dedicated his young and honorable life and bringing the social goals he set to success will be one of the most valuable ways to keep his memory alive. When this country finds peace, beautiful and bright days, and we breathe a sigh of relief as a nation, I believe that all our loved ones we have lost will be by our side. On that day, our tears will flow from longing and happiness. Stay well. Ekrem İmamoğlu. Silivri Prison.”

CALL FROM ÖZGÜR ÖZEL TO AKP YOUTH

Highlights from CHP Chairman Özgür Özel's speech are as follows:

"I will not take off my jacket. We will remove those who should take off their jackets and roll up their sleeves.

You regret the day you recognized and appointed the Chief Public Prosecutor you assigned to Istanbul in violation of the Constitution. I do not regret the day I nominated Mayor Ekrem or our other 11 mayors; I vouch for them to the end.

I am addressing the AK Youth here. Your party entered the elections and came out as the 1st party. We were not elected, we looked for the fault in ourselves, we worked, we struggled, and finally, we achieved great success. For the first time in 23 years, it lost an election. It should have shown the respect we have shown for 47 years for 47 months. They didn't even wait 47 days. They took the ball we were playing with and took it to the palace. I am addressing the AK Youth, say 'Give us the ball, we will go and play a match with the CHP.' Maybe you will lose one or two elections. But you will not go down in history as those who play when they win and run away when they lose. I am telling all young people, you cannot decide on someone's democracy by looking at what they do when they win an election. Let us fight not with cowards, but with the brave and the righteous.

"WHAT WAS UTKU'S CRIME? TO BREAK RECORDS AND SERVE IN AVCILAR"

They took our youngest, they took the apple of our eye. They are holding him with unjust accusations. Let us state the accusations. He is someone who does business in the Grand National Assembly, the Court of Cassation, Turkish Airlines, countless city hospitals, and AKP municipalities. They don't look at any of these. They launched an operation claiming he is the head of a criminal organization. Allegedly, this Aziz İhsan Aktaş sent a campaign car to the CHP Avcılar district presidency before the election. The car was used for 1.5 months. He is outside, and Utku has no connection with the people he says he gave the car to. But Utku is inside. What was Utku's crime? To break records and serve in Avcılar.

Utku heard about the crime of money laundering but could not believe it. He has no house, no car. They are keeping him imprisoned for laundering non-existent assets. If Utku is to remain imprisoned for 1 day for this matter, AKP members should serve life sentences.

We took over the IMM in 2019. We counted the vehicles, 859 vehicles were missing. 42 of them came out of AKP's election campaigns and TÜGVA. One of the vehicles came out of Akın Gürlek. Today he is making a statement, 'Municipalities give vehicles to the courthouse,' of course, a shuttle bus is provided. You, while your counterpart judges were riding Renaults at that time, will pull the most luxurious vehicle from the IMM under you, and then make an arrest for a car that made an announcement without Utku Caner's knowledge.

We are holding tremendous rallies every Wednesday. This is not a mill that will turn with water brought by a party's call. In Avcılar, there are social democrats, Kurds, conservatives, and socialists.

In January, we objected to the 22 thousand lira minimum wage. Even according to TUIK, it melted by 3 thousand 300 lira in 5 months. The pension dropped to 12 thousand 300 lira. If I leave the gold account that Erdoğan is most angry about, I would be leaving the retiree to your mercy. I am addressing all AKP and MHP retirees. Let me leave it, you go and do it. 23 years ago, the lowest pension could buy 8 quarter gold coins. Now 2 quarter coins can be bought. You are paying the price, my retired uncle. A minimum wage earner could buy 7 quarter gold coins, now they can buy 3. While saying these, we did the diesel calculation yesterday. One liter of diesel exceeded 50 liras.

"INTERIM RAISE IS OUR RIGHT, WE WILL TAKE IT BY FORCE"

In January, we objected to the 22 thousand lira minimum wage. Even according to TUIK, it melted by 3 thousand 300 lira in 5 months. The pension dropped to 12 thousand 300 lira. If I leave the gold account that Erdoğan is most angry about, I would be leaving the retiree to your mercy. I am addressing all AKP and MHP retirees. Let me leave it, you go and do it. 23 years ago, the lowest pension could buy 8 quarter gold coins. Now 2 quarter coins can be bought. You are paying the price, my retired uncle. A minimum wage earner could buy 7 quarter gold coins, now they can buy 3. While saying these, we did the diesel calculation yesterday. One liter of diesel exceeded 50 liras. Mr. Tayyip has converted the minimum wage into diesel. It is said to buy 445 liters. In Greece, it buys 678 liters, in Germany, the minimum wage buys 1,370 liters of diesel. What are you talking about?!

Let us raise a voice to protect our retirees. Mr. Tayyip used to say he would raise wages 4 times a year, last year he didn't even make 1 raise. Are you ready to protect the minimum wage earner and the retiree? We will fight until we make him announce an interim raise. Let those who don't hear, hear: An interim raise is our right, we will take it by force!

"THE INTERNAL FRONT IS STRENGTHENED BY JUSTICE"

Of course, the biggest concern on the televisions we watch and other televisions is war. Because we are the party of Atatürk, who said 'Peace at home, peace in the world.' Our country is surrounded by a ring of fire. There is a war in Ukraine and Russia. There is instability in Syria. Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. The most common phrase for Turkey is to strengthen the internal front. Well, who is weakening the internal front? The internal front is not fortified by slandering a brilliant 32-year-old mayor. The internal front is strengthened by justice.

Let everyone be tried. Let no one escape justice. We have a proposal for this. Both for a Turkey without terror and to strengthen the internal front, conduct trials without arrest. Let our friends return to their duties and families. But we want one thing. Let the trials be transparent, if you have the courage, let TRT broadcast them and let the nation watch.

REITERATED BOYCOTT CALL

We do not go to Nusret. We do not even pass in front of Günaydın restaurants. They have a restaurant called Mezzaluna, we do not let them earn money. TRT, Albayrak Group, Turkuvaz Media, Doğuş Media… We are boycotting them all together. There is TGRT, it has sworn to curse the CHP. They earn money from the İhlas brand. We do not buy their products. We never open channels like NTV, Star, and Kral. We do not enter D&R, we do not stop by İdefix.

News Source: 12punto