Özgür Özel speaks on the possible outcomes of the 'Party Congress Case': If the worst happens

In his assessment of the 'Aziz İhsan Aktaş' indictment, Özel touched upon HTS (historical traffic search) records. Özel stated, "If you apply the principles that a mayor cannot be held responsible for a tender simply because they lack signature authority, and that HTS records cannot serve as evidence of a person's conversation according to Constitutional Court rulings, then all of our friends in Silivri—if not all, then all but two—would be released today." 

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel made the following assessments regarding the agenda during a program he attended on Halk TV:

"(Lütfü Savaş) That is an ugly development. What will happen? It is not even worth discussing. He has made a statement regarding you. There is something like this: He was nominated by this party, reached important positions, and then was nominated again. No one wanted him. He was declared an unwanted person.

Just to give him his due, we took all the risks because he was leading in the polls. I took a lot of heat from the world, yet we still nominated him. Afterwards, he came out and accused the party of colluding with the PKK and got himself expelled from the party. He was expelled from the party for saying things like that.

At that time, there was none of this. This process was not happening either. All these strange things like 'demlenmek' (being brewed/colluding). Then he became a tool for those who wish harm upon the party. As a tool of the government, he is constantly trying to cancel the party's congresses and so on...

In other words, he is acting like a germ. I said, one shouldn't be surprised by what he does. Do you ask a germ why it causes disease? That is its job, I said. I suppose that is why he did it. He is a person not worth the breath I am wasting.

(On the Aziz İhsan Aktaş indictment) He is being tried for 704 years, he is walking free, while our friends are in prison based on his statements. 

Today, the issue you mentioned, the HTS ruling, has been included in a court decision. It is a Constitutional Court ruling. Do you know where it was included? Of course, there is that ruling. There is the Hüda Kaya ruling at the Constitutional Court, but it was included in a mayor's case. There is an allegation of corruption against the mayor. He is under investigation.

It is clear that corruption took place in the municipality, but the ruling consists of two points. It states that a mayor cannot be held responsible for tenders because they do not have signatory authority.

Second, it states that according to the Constitutional Court's ruling, HTS records cannot be proof that a person spoke with someone. This is because it is a matter of base station signals within a 1-kilometer radius. Do you know who has this ruling? This ruling belongs to Umut Yılmaz. That is, Umut Yılmaz, who switched from our party to the AK Party in Gaziantep and had corruption allegations against him while he was in our party. 

They acquitted him by issuing this ruling in Umut Yılmaz's trial. Why did he switch to the AK Party? They acquitted him with this ruling, and that was the deal.

They told him, 'We will save you from this.' He accepted. They acquitted him. They took him into the AK Party. Exactly like that. Now, that ruling states exactly what we are saying. If you apply the clauses that a mayor cannot be held responsible for a tender because they lack signatory authority and that HTS records cannot be evidence of a person's meeting per the Constitutional Court's ruling, then all of our friends in Silivri—if not all, then all but two—would be released. Entirely based on this clause. You have provided base station records, you have provided base station records.

For example, the person whose file was separated—if it hadn't been separated, he would be out, and if he were out, he would return to the Gaziosmanpaşa Mayoralty. You know they elected an AK Party deputy in his place. Political pickpockets. There are three things in Hakan Bahçetepe's file. Providing a base station record with one of Aziz İhsan Aktaş's men. Aziz İhsan Aktaş's gas station is here. The AKP issued its license.

On November 24, he provided a base station record within 800 meters of this gas station with the person at this gas station. There is a school 800 meters away. They celebrated Teachers' Day on November 24. In another instance, he opened an indoor marketplace. He provided a base station record from 1 kilometer away. In another, he had coffee at a cafe with Erasmus students.

That was also within 400 meters. Aziz İhsan Aktaş's man is sitting at the gas station. He is in the vicinity, and it is proven day by day. On November 24, Teachers' Day, he has a Twitter post from there with Erasmus students. Here, there is an indoor marketplace. He even did a live broadcast of the opening from his Twitter account. They say, 'Because he is being held for these three things, you met with this person on these three days and took a bribe.' No tender, nothing. The tender was awarded by the previous AK Party mayor. The municipal council majority is with the AK Party. Look, they elected the deputy mayor from among themselves.

The AK Party made the municipal council's decision.

It was granted with the votes of AK Party members. Hakan Bahçetepe will remain in prison, while Umut Yılmaz will be acquitted because, according to the Constitutional Court ruling, HTS records cannot be used as evidence. Or rather, they will say there is no need for prosecution, he will be separated from the file, join the AK Party, and live happily ever after there. Is this a system? Is this justice?

(Aziz İhsan Aktaş) He could probably walk in through that door right there. He could. If your security guards didn't stop him, he would come in. He has nothing against him. The man is being tried for 704 years. Like Lucky Luke. And then he wanders around as he pleases. Our friends are sitting in prison because of his slanders. Zeydan Karalar, for example. He is one of the mayors mentioned in that indictment. If he were tried and found guilty, the sentence he would receive is 4 years, yet he is detained.

For one thing, they are creating a perception that he is being held in prison supposedly because of the Aziz İhsan Aktaş file. It has nothing to do with Aziz İhsan Aktaş. There are allegations elsewhere that the owner of the company that won that tender is a secret partner of Aziz İhsan Aktaş. There is someone else here. The person who awarded the tender is the former AK Party mayor who preceded him.

The payments were made regularly every month. Regularly. The person says, 'They asked me for a bribe. Before that, they weren't making my payments, but once I gave it, things improved.' He is laying it all out. He has everything from A to Z. It was paid on the same day every month. Both before and after the date he mentioned.

They say there is an HTS record. Not with himself, but with a municipal employee—though it could be with him too. The mayor's door is open, everyone passes by. To have an HTS record, just passing in front of the municipality is enough, or even just entering the same base station area by car from 500 meters away is enough. And the prison time for that crime is 6 months and 20 days. How long has Mayor Zeydan been inside? Ahmet Özer has been in prison for 9 months with the same amount of accusation. He has been in prison for 9 months, and suppose Ahmet Özer said—even though Ahmet Özer has absolutely nothing to do with this business—Ahmet Özer was already taken from Esenyurt because of the 'City Consensus.' They were calling Ahmet Özer a terrorist.

When Devlet Bahçeli went to the DEM Party benches and started a new process, and the accusation against Ahmet Özer fell through, they had to keep Ahmet Özer in custody without trial, so they arrested him as a backup from this file before he could get out of the other one. He is still inside right now. He will effectively complete one year on October 30th. One year will be completed.

However, he has been detained for 9 months and 20 days even on this file. Normally, suppose something like this happened: Ahmet Özer said, 'Your Honor, I confess, I committed that crime.' Even though he didn't, he said, 'I accept the sentence.' He said, 'Don't even give me a reduction.' If they gave Ahmet Özer a four-year sentence, they would release him. Ahmet Özer would even have three months of time served. They are still keeping him inside.

They also backed up Resul Emrah Şahan. They backed him up too. Because Resul Emrah Şahan was also detained due to the 'City Consensus.' Now, anticipating that the 'City Consensus' files will be dropped, they are backing up Resul Emrah Şahan by mixing him into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality file or another file, saying 'you did this, you did that'.

The goal—look, how is it obvious that this isn't about fighting corruption or anything like that? If it were, they would have acted on that file on the first day. Those files are just sitting there. They know there is nothing there. It has passed Court of Accounts audits, inspections by Ministry of Interior inspectors, internal audits, and so on. All the files are the same for everyone anyway. What are they doing? If they need to take someone down, they target that person. They demand all the files. Where the Court of Accounts found no fault, they find a name. They tell that person, 'Look, we will seize your assets and property. Come here and make a confession.' And when they find that name, they most likely look at those who have business dealings with the municipality or others.

If they can't find anything, they find a businessman and bring him in. They threaten to seize his assets and get a slanderous statement. But Resul Emrah Şahan needs to be kept inside. Otherwise, if they had found Resul Emrah Şahan guilty of this corruption, they would have done something about it. This didn't exist at all. They took him because of the 'City Consensus.' The City Consensus case will be dismissed. He needs to stay inside. Why? Because he is known as a name close to Ekrem İmamoğlu.

He previously served as a director and general manager at the Istanbul Planning Agency (İPA). What is he doing? He is producing politics there. Because they say someone from Ekrem İmamoğlu's brain trust, his inner circle, must stay inside, and they saw they couldn't hold him on other grounds, they are taking him in on this file. It is already obvious that he has no guilt in this file, given that no questions have been asked of him for 8 months.

"A VALUABLE STATEMENT"

(Regarding Supreme Court of Appeals President Ömer Kerkez's call to 'comply with Constitutional Court rulings') We must give credit to President Ömer here.

In the recent past, something like this happened: A first-instance court made a decision. The Constitutional Court overturned this decision and ordered a retrial. It even said, 'You must stop the trial, release him, and he must go to perform his parliamentary duties.' This court resisted. And the 3rd Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, if I am not mistaken, stood behind this resistance, and a debate erupted between the ECHR and the Supreme Court of Appeals, leading to where we are now. At the point we have reached, the Supreme Court of Appeals President's statement that 'Constitutional Court rulings are binding on all of us' is a valuable statement.

Because it is actually valuable in Turkey. In the world, Supreme Court of Appeals presidents don't need to make such a statement. If it is written in the Constitution, it binds everyone. This is the social contract. This Constitutional article is published along with the justifications for ECHR rulings. Once published, it says it binds the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.

The President of the Supreme Court of Appeals felt the need to remind everyone of this. This is a very valuable step. Because there was a need for this to be reminded.

However, across Turkey, compliance with Constitutional Court rulings, adherence to the Constitution, the principle of the generality of laws, their binding nature on everyone, and respect for the rule of law are of great value. I find it very important that this is being reminded.

ÜMİT DİKBAYIR JOINING THE CHP

(Is Ümit Dikbayır's participation a situation that contradicts the CHP's policy on the Imralı Process?) Mr. Ümit joining, or Mr. Adnan joining recently...

It is not a contradictory step. The Republican People's Party is as follows: First of all, our friends who come to the Republican People's Party are bound by the party's charter and program. Our party's charter also authorizes the chairman to express, determine, and implement party policies. They know this too. But they also know this: whether it is Ümit Dikbayır or all our friends who joined us from our former alliance partner parties, such as Cemal Enginyurt or Adnan Beker, they know the following.

"THE CHP DOES NOT NEED THE DEM PARTY OR THE HDP"

Our chairman will join the commission. He will work in the commission. He can contribute to taking important steps for the resolution of the Kurdish issue within the commission.

But our chairman will not say yes to anything against Turkey's interests. Peace will emerge from where our chairman says yes. It will be in the interest of both Kurds and Turks; money will not be spent on fighting terrorism. Money will not be spent on weapons. This money will be spent on the poor, whether they are Kurdish or Turkish. It will be given to retirees.

If there is going to be a weakness regarding the country's security, we will not be there. We will not get involved in anything that would upset our martyrs and veterans. In short, as they say a lot in my hometown of Manisa: Since we have no doubts about our ablution, no one has any doubts about our prayer. No one has any doubts about my patriotism, my left-wing stance, my solution-oriented approach to the Kurdish issue, or my patriotism.

Just as I do, our management staff and our parliamentary group have this kind of self-confident politics. When that happens, the Republican People's Party can become the kind of party it is. It can call out to all democrats. Conservative democrats, nationalist democrats, Kurdish democrats, liberal democrats, and socialist democrats can be together, or vote together, or hold rallies together; a democrat who has the will to change Turkey is in their own party or another party, but they believe that they will change Turkey together. When the day comes, we will be together. They may have problems in their party, they may be unaffiliated, or undecided. They look at the CHP. The place where the CHP stands is now a place that suits their heart. They come and vote. Look, the Republican People's Party does not need the DEM Party or the HDP to establish a relationship with Kurds, but this does not mean that we will disrespect the institutional identity of the DEM Party or the HDP.

The CHP can establish a direct relationship with Kurds. In the streets of Diyarbakır, in the streets of Şanlıurfa, in the streets of Mardin, Batman, and Van; but even when no one else in parliament would shake their hands, we would shake the hands of the DEM members, or stand against the injustices done to DEM Party members, the appointment of trustees, and the times when the certificate of election was not being given in Van.

We were there with 5 deputies. A trustee was appointed in Mardin. I was getting on top of the bus. Ahmet Türk, thank you, said to the DEM co-chair, 'Let us get down and leave it to you.' I said, 'President Ahmet, let's get up there together. I came here for you.' We can courageously oppose the trustees together. Tomorrow, if this government does something wrong, we can say no to it, but there is one thing everyone knows. We aspire to a happy, peaceful, wealthy, and free future for Turkey. To achieve this, the opposition needs to show solidarity instead of dealing with and contradicting each other.

I am in good relations with the Kurds with my most sincere feelings. I continue to maintain a relationship with the DEM Party as an institution, with mutual respect and the responsibility of being in opposition together. When I return from here, if the Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi), the Future Party (Gelecek Partisi), or the DEVA Party are on this side, I must maintain the same institutional, respectful, and collaborative relationship with them as well. Because we are not in just any period.

In any other period, we could compete with each other or even fight. But this is not that day. Because let me put it this way. There is a field. A football match is being played. For a while, 'Akspor' was winning the matches. Sometimes by a wide margin, sometimes with a last-minute goal, but they were winning.

This time we won the match. The captain of Akspor, Tayyip Erdoğan, took the ball under his arm. He says there is no more match. He took the ball and is leaving. He is going to stop the game.

He is a sore loser. He cannot accept defeat. He plays as long as he wins, but runs away when he loses. He is taking the ball away to stop the game. We, the rest of the neighborhood, chased after him and caught him; now we are trying to get our ball back. If we can save it, we can play matches among ourselves in the future. By the way, the ball isn't even his.

"I DO NOT EXPECT A NEGATIVE DECISION"

(Regarding the party congress case) I do not expect anything. I said this on the first day as well. This is not a result-oriented issue, but a process-oriented one, intended to keep the CHP under debate... Their goal is not to achieve a result, but to keep the party under debate and to wear it down. We are trying to approach these matters with a cool head, and we will continue to do so. I do not expect a negative ruling, neither on Friday nor afterward.

If the worst happens, our regular party congress is coming up after a certain period anyway. All of our provincial congresses are concluding, and all of our delegates will be determined. The congress process has begun, the congress will be held, and the party will elect its new chairman. That could be me, or it could be someone else. I am currently the party's incumbent chairman. And I intend to be a candidate again at the upcoming congress. Because I believe we have work to do and a struggle to wage. But if there are friends who think differently, they can come forward and say 'I can do it better' and become candidates at the congress... Whoever desires to do so can come forward, become a candidate, compete democratically, and the CHP chairman can be elected through a multi-candidate race. There is no longer any obstacle to this."

News Source: 12punto