Özgür Özel speaks after prison visit to Beşiktaş Mayor Akpolat: 'You will be treated as you deserve'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel stated, "The arrest of our Mayor Rıza has deeply saddened and shaken us all, and we are in a state of great discomfort."

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel visited Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, who was arrested and suspended from his duties, at Paşakapısı Prison in Üsküdar.

Speaking to members of the press after the visit, Özel said they were in meetings with all relevant authorized bodies regarding the matter, stating, "The arrest of our Mayor Rıza has deeply saddened and shaken us all, and we are in a state of great discomfort. We have always maintained our respect out of the respect we hold for all political parties and their voters.

From this point on, we cannot provide any guarantees as to how developments will proceed. Because, in the end, we are a party to whom war has been declared. We will respond in the same manner as we are responded to.

We are in meetings with all our authorized bodies regarding this issue.

Today, our mayor was transferred to Paşakapısı Prison in the morning hours. This is a prison where civil servants are held. We conveyed our request for a meeting to the Minister. We thank them,” he said.

"WE SHARED A BITTER LAUGH"

Expressing that they shared a bitter laugh while saying goodbye to Akpolat, Özel said, "During the difficult process that took place last time and lasted nearly a month, we had expressed our mutual discomforts. It is important that this visitation permit was granted quickly today. However, ultimately, there is no acceptable or explainable side to Rıza Akpolat being in prison. Because according to the relevant law, he is not responsible for the tender, he has no signature. A moment ago, while saying goodbye to him, he said one last thing and we shared a bitter laugh. He said: 'I am being accused of being a member of an organization, I met the other members of the organization in the detention center.' He is staying in the same ward with seven of them. He met both the person referred to as the leader of the criminal organization and everyone else included in this organization in the detention center,” he said.

"HIS MORALE IS HIGH"

Noting that Akpolat's health is good and his morale is high in prison, Özel said, "There is no phone call, no money transfer, no audio recording, no eyewitness. There is no evidence at all. He is extremely sad because he is facing such a huge lie and slander. But he also states, 'The resistance of being innocent and being in the right gives me strength.' I saw this in him as well. His health is good. There is only the fatigue of not having been able to sleep for days. Other than that, his morale is high. He has no doubt that he will be cleared and released at the end of this process. We have no doubts either. It fell to the mayor to come here and pay the price on behalf of all of us today,” he said.

News Source: İHA