Özgür Özel's warning to the government: 'Does the Angel of Death distinguish between AKP and CHP supporters?'

Speaking at a public meeting held in front of the Gemlik Municipality building, Özel said that their first and most important agenda in Gemlik is urban transformation.

Stating that the earthquake constantly reminds people of its presence, Özel noted that urban transformation is not a task that a mayor can accomplish with the limited resources of a municipality.

Özel expressed that the central government should play a facilitating role in urban transformation by making legal arrangements and providing long-term interest-free or very low-interest loans and public support.

Stating that the resources they found abroad were not approved, Özel said, "I am addressing Mr. Erdoğan from here; do not withhold approval for loans that our municipalities have found abroad, from the World Bank, from multinational structures, or through their own efforts from financial companies and banks, especially for urban transformation. Do not be so heartless as to leave this nation helpless in the face of an earthquake while saying, 'We will not let you provide services.' Stop these things. Do not engage in partisanship. Stand by the nation, not against it," he said.

Emphasizing that laws supporting urban transformation and low-interest loans for transformation must be enacted, Özel said, "I invite the government to be sincere and diligent regarding urban transformation, not to turn this into a party matter, and not to engage in partisanship. When an apartment building collapses, when the Angel of Death comes, does he distinguish between an AKP supporter and a CHP supporter? Then you shouldn't either. When an earthquake happens, the Angel of Death and AFAD do not distinguish by party. Tiny babies, the elderly, and the sick do not have a party."

"THERE ARE DYNAMIC CADRES WHO KNOW WHAT THEY WANT TO DO"

Stating that the CHP had been unable to open the door to success in its political stronghold for a long time, Özel noted the following:

"We made great efforts, many struggles were waged, but the 25 percent glass ceiling could not be broken. After the Republican People's Party Change Congress last November, a dynamism came to the party. A very young Party Assembly with an average age of 43 was formed. Of course, we have experienced elders in their 60s; we have young children aged 23-26, and there are dynamic cadres, mostly in their 30s and 40s, who are well-trained, well-educated, know the world, speak foreign languages, and know what they want to do."

Touching upon the issue of Social Security Institution (SGK) debts, Özel said, "These figures include the SGK premiums that all the municipalities we took over from the AK Party did not pay. They are lying through the state. Both regarding SGK and taxes."

Claiming that what is being done is a financial coup, Özel continued:

"We are not leaving any debt related to our own term. You will bring the law to Parliament. We will sit down and talk. You cannot make us pay for the money you ate, drank, accumulated, and did not pay to the state from the past term. You will remove their interest, you will have the principal divided. You will treat everyone equally. We will do these things based on that. 'I will place a lien.' Go ahead. The citizens will also see who is hindering the service. He is making calculations, look at the logic. 'Seize all the municipality's vehicles. Let them not be able to collect the trash. Let them not be able to go to a burst sewage pipe.' he says. He is going to do politics by saying, 'The place is covered in trash.' Look, Tayyip Erdoğan, don't even attempt these things. If necessary, starting with the chairman, all 1 million 600 thousand CHP members will collect that trash with our own hands. We will not make ourselves dependent on you again."

Özel later visited Gemlik Mayor Şükrü Deviren in his office with his entourage.

News Source: AA