Özgür Özel addresses Erdoğan during the march in support of Hüseyin Can Güner: How would you feel if this were done to Bilal Bey?

The march was attended by CHP's elected Chairman Özgür Özel, CHP deputies Veli Ağbaba, Mahmut Tanal, Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Asu Kaya, Ali Mahir Başarır, Murat Emir, Aliye Timisi Ersever, Cemal Enginyurt, Ulaş Karasu, Umut Akdoğan, Özgür Karabat, Ensar Aytekin, Okan Konuralp, Aylin Nazlıaka, Bülent Tezcan, Aylin Yaman, Gökçe Gökçen, Süleyman Bülbül, as well as Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş and Mamak Mayor Veli Gündüz Şahin. CHP Deputy Chairmen Gül Çiftçi and Yalçın Karatepe from the elected administration also participated in the march.

Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who arrived at the Çankaya Municipality, said the following:

"Hopefully, he will be among us by tomorrow or the day after at the latest. Everyone is saying things on their own. They are convicting CHP mayors in television courts. Whether they are speaking knowingly or unknowingly, this is very grave. People are asking, 'Will this operation against Çankaya reach the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality?' There is not a single investigation against me, and there won't be one either. Yes, you can judge, you can take action in the face of slander, but we want a common law.

Whatever is applied to everyone else should be applied to us as well. Let my opponent's 600 apartments from the last election be investigated; let the person whom our esteemed chairman referred to as 'rotten seed' account for his 600 million [lira] villa. If you believe you cannot win, do not enter the election or do not hold one.

Let everyone serve the district they were elected to. We were re-elected with 65 percent; let us work until the end and fulfill the mandate of the votes we received. Do you think they wouldn't reveal it if they found something? They can't, because there is nothing."

"I WILL TELL ERDOĞAN A STORY..."

Taking the floor after Yavaş, Özgür Özel addressed the citizens gathered in front of the municipality as follows:

“Now, I am not telling this to anyone here, but I will tell a story, a life story, to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Then, I will leave a note for history regarding what he is trying to do today and what this means. Hüseyin Can Güner. His father died when he was one year old. His mother is a prison guard. She is still a prison guard in her 33rd year at the Ayaş Women's Open Prison. From the age of 10, little Hüseyin grew up in the Ministry of Justice housing with the salary his mother received from the Ministry of Justice, looking up to the prosecutor and judge brothers, sisters, and aunts, admiring them, going to school in socks, shoes, and shirts sewn by his mother with the money earned from the Ministry of Justice. That Hüseyin was the top of his class and school every year. At the end of high school, without being able to take special lessons or go to prep schools, he became the top of his school on a meager budget. He won the Ankara University Faculty of Law through the top-student quota. That Hüseyin both studied his lessons at Ankara Law and tried to help his mother who raised him and put him through school. Yet, he graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law with honors, with the highest degree, and in the shortest time.”

“HE SHOWED SIGNIFICANT SUCCESS”

“That Hüseyin's mind was still on being a prosecutor or a judge. At that time, there was a coup attempt, 3,500 positions were vacant in the Ministry of Justice, and 20,000 candidates took the judge and prosecutor exam. That Hüseyin, our Hüseyin, Can Hüseyin, Hüseyin Can Güner took that exam and placed 114th out of 20,000 candidates. Hüseyin went to the interview and was eliminated in the interview. He was very sad and devastated by this. We know Hüseyin from his coming and going to the Parliament, from his voluntary consultancy to us, and from his very important knowledge and accumulation on legal matters despite his young age. The Minister of Justice at that time was the current AK Party Group Deputy Chairman Abdülhamit Gül. Ministers are in the Parliament, in the hall at that time. I go up to him and say, ‘This Hüseyin grew up like this and came here. He graduated from Ankara Law with honors. If he were a FETÖ member, would you keep his mother in the institution? If he were a PKK member, would you keep his mother in the institution? Why is the Ministry of Justice afraid of this child, whose mother still works as a prison guard in the institution, who grew up on the state's bread, and how do you eliminate the one who got the highest score?’ The Minister of Justice was surprised. The Minister of Justice took notes. Then this issue was discussed a lot. The exam was held once more and more students participated. Hüseyin got a better grade, but in the end, he was eliminated again in the second interview. Then, while the ombudsman report was being discussed in the Parliament, Şeref Malkoç was there, and there is a note in the report. It says, ‘The application of subjective criteria in the Ministry of Justice's exams has been a subject of criticism.’ I took the podium and told this story in the presence of Mr. Malkoç. I said, ‘Will you discuss this issue in the Public Ombudsman's building, or with your son-in-law, the Minister of Justice? Because when I told this story, your son-in-law Abdülhamit Bey said, ‘Oh dear, we will find a better one? So educated, raised, mother is a member of the ministry. Will we find a better one?’ and yet a mechanism eliminated Hüseyin again despite him getting an even higher score.’ That Hüseyin became a lawyer, I gave him all my cases. That Hüseyin became a lawyer, we all trusted him. That Hüseyin became a lawyer, he won cases that were said to be unwinnable. He showed significant success. That Hüseyin became a lawyer, his mother continued to do her modest, difficult job and live her modest life.”

“A LONG-ORDERED EVIL HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED”

“When I became Chairman, candidates worked everywhere, my Mayor worked in Ankara, worked with polls, worked by listening to the people. In Ankara, only in Çankaya, when the Chairmen of the Republican People's Party go to bed at night and put their heads on the pillow, they sleep by entrusting Çankaya—not as a joke—the First Parliament, the Second Parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the headquarters of his party and other parties, the Çankaya Mansion, and Anıtkabir to the Mayor of Çankaya. We nominated our youngest, the one we trust the most, our clean child for Çankaya, and you appreciated it and brought him to office. Let's sit straight and talk straight, Mr. Erdoğan. For two years, there is no one in Ankara who has not heard the words, ‘Carry out an operation on Çankaya, take Çankaya. Hurt Özgür Özel by carrying out an operation on Çankaya.’ Until the recent appointments, we will talk, we will sit straight and talk straight. Until the recent appointments, the Chief Public Prosecutor in Ankara, his deputies, and prosecutors said, ‘We look at whether a lawsuit should be filed based on the reports that come before us through proper municipal audits. What should we do with allegations, secret witnesses, this and that, without being caught red-handed, without being caught red-handed in bribery?’ and they became the target of the gang in the judiciary. A new order was established in Ankara with the recent appointments. That order was the order of bringing the system in Istanbul to Ankara. The operation carried out against Çankaya Municipality today is nothing but the implementation of an order, an evil that has been ordered for a long time.”

“GOD FORBID I WOULDN'T DO IT, BUT HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF IT WERE DONE TO BİLAL BEY”

“Now I am addressing Mr. Erdoğan from here. We are rivals, right? If the power were in my hands one day, if I had the power and I had someone take Bilal Bey from his home, in front of his child and wife, while he was innocent and had committed no sin, if I put him inside unjustly, just because of my grudge against you, because I couldn't defeat you, because I couldn't cope with you, if I attacked your child, if I attacked your grandchild—God forbid, I wouldn't do it, I won't do it—but if this were done, whatever you would feel, Tayyip Efendi, that is what I am feeling right now. If there is even this much conscience, if there is even this much fear of God, if there is even this much bravery, let Hüseyin go. Come and settle the score, Özgür Özel is here.”

“THE INSPECTOR FOUND NO FAULT, THE COURT OF ACCOUNTS SAID IT MADE A PROFIT”

“I am saying this from Ankara, in the heart of the nation and in the presence of the nation; a tender held in 2024. A company that won that tender [offered] a notch below what was said. They were suspicious, they said, ‘He bought it expensively.’ They canceled it and renewed the tender two months later, and it was bought at a much lower price. Someone sent a complaint about this to Istanbul. They sent an inspector to audit Ankara, the inspector found no fault. While writing, the Court of Accounts noted that the municipality made a profit with this practice. Now someone has taken the file under their arm from Istanbul, come to Ankara, and started this operation. The name of this is to enter into the rights of the people just to deal with the Republican People's Party and Özgür Özel politically. I swear in the presence of all of you here; if Hüseyin Can Güner has any injustice or lawlessness here, may God take my life. But if what is being done here is to slander this innocent child to hurt me, may God hold those who do this accountable in the worst way when the day comes.”

“THE PARTIES TO THIS BUSINESS ARE CLEAR”

“I am not going to say anything to the prosecutor or anyone else. The parties to the incident are clear. If there is conscience, if there is morality, the parties to this business are clear. What was done to Hüseyin today is something done to Özgür Özel's child. I can never, ever tolerate the tears of my Mother Perihan, who still works as a prison guard in this state and whose duty station was changed before this started, and who is currently sitting at home with tears in her eyes. Whoever has a problem, let them come and deal with me. Leave Mother Perihan alone. That is why enough is enough from here. We know what has been done for 1.5 years. Now, trying to spread fear in Ankara by saying ‘It's Ankara's turn,’ trying to spread fear to Ankara's mayors and council members—which is my greatest hope for Turkey to reach the best places—trying to smear Mansur Yavaş is no one's right. This nation will not allow this. I am saying it clearly and plainly. Do not enter into the rights of innocent, sinless people. Everyone has a family, a spouse, and children. Do not go after the innocent and sinless just to deal with me, just to stop the CHP's march to power, just to cut the way and voice of Özgür Özel's friends, to silence and intimidate them. This path you are walking is not the right path. This path will not take you to a good place in this world or the next. I am addressing those who violate the rights of the people. If you say ‘I didn't know,’ Erdoğan, you have a whole night ahead of you. You will have it opened, you will have it looked at, you will understand what this judicial gang is doing. Otherwise, you will take all the responsibility for this tomorrow morning.”

“MY ONLY ASSURANCE IS THE CONSCIENCE OF THIS NATION”

“From here, I say this to those in the judiciary in Ankara who say, ‘Sir, it is not like the old days, it will be like Istanbul.’ Being like Istanbul is nothing to be proud of. It fell apart thread by thread. All secret witnesses were withdrawn. The slanderers asked for forgiveness. The lies told for 1.5 years either could not enter the indictment or no evidence could be put into the ones that did. The defense rights of those who wanted to respond to these were restricted. Defense attorneys of the defendants, who were not silenced during the coup period, were interrupted. President Ekrem, who needed three or four days to express himself, was given half a day with his lawyers, and his right to defense was blocked. A place where so many wrong things are done cannot be an example. This path being taken cannot be the right path. The nation cannot tolerate so much injustice. I say it once again, families and children cannot be parties to political settling of scores. If you are going to be, you become a rival bravely and fight. These things cannot be done by using the judiciary, using the police, and slandering with state power. From now on, my only assurance is the conscience of this nation, the fairness of this nation. If there is anyone watching this at their television, feeling sad, and saying, ‘What can I do?’, I am pointing you to it. You can do this, this. Come to where you are called, where you should be. Protect your will. Protect those you elected. From now on, injustices may grow. If injustices grow, are we ready to grow the squares? If injustice and lawlessness grow, are we ready to multiply in the streets, in the squares, at every point where we should be? The demand for justice is flowing like a flood all over Turkey. No one can stop the rushing flood of the people. Are we going to take our place in this flood? Are we going to stand behind the righteous, the victim, and the oppressed against all injustices?”

“ERDOĞAN, DO NOT DO TO US WHAT WE WOULD NOT DO TO YOU”

“From here, from Ankara, I am addressing all of Turkey. I am complaining about what Tayyip Erdoğan is doing not only to Turkey's social democrats but to all democrats who are democratic and against injustice, to those who have voted for the AK Party in the past and fear violating the rights of the people. I am complaining about this injustice done to people who have voted for the Nationalist Movement Party and love this country with all their hearts. With its Turks and Kurds, Alevis and Sunnis, this nation is one and whole. It is conscientious, it is fair. I am addressing the conscience of this nation. There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us. Let us protect the children of the homeland before it is our child's turn.

Let us protect them so that these injustices and lawlessness stop somewhere. I kiss each of you on the forehead for coming here, for protecting our Hüseyin Can today, for being on the side of democracy, and for being here with courage. Mr. Tayyip, Mr. Erdoğan, when I put my head on the pillow tonight, I will sleep knowing what I did, trusting whom I elected, and believing in my child. When you put your head on the pillow tonight, and those who will decide on your behalf tomorrow... If they are going to sacrifice the freedom of a young person from this file to a power struggle, will they sleep comfortably tonight?

Mr. Erdoğan, I am asking you. Will you be able to sleep despite this injustice when you put your head on the pillow? Whatever your grandchild is, Hüseyin Can is my child. Do not do to us what we would not do to you. From now on, do not hurt the innocent again. This is my last word.

Thank you all. For justice, for democracy, for the struggle, we always want to see you by our side with this determination, to be shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm, and to walk together to beautiful tomorrows. I am glad you exist. I love you all very much. Thank you, long live.”

News Source: 12punto