Statement from Levent Koç, who left CHP for AKP: There were very different events, very different experiences, and very different accumulated grievances

Haymana Mayor Levent Koç, who left the CHP to join the AK Party, answered questions from members of the press at a ceremony he attended.

Koç said, "We have been carrying out a duty in Haymana for over two years. And thank God, we have worked day and night to carry it out without any embarrassment. We have brought our city to this point without taking a single day off. Of course, what was our intention?

Our intention was this:

Haymana possesses very different assets. It certainly had to reach the place it deserves with those assets. And of course, I am very grateful to my Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who has never withheld his support from us, for the projects we have brought to Haymana or that have led us to bring them to Haymana to date. He has made a great contribution to us; both with his political personality and what he has brought to Haymana.

But of course, there were very different events, very different experiences, and very different accumulated grievances. And based on these accumulated grievances, we truly had no situation left where we could continue. We had set out on this path with Mr. Mansur. I will explain the reasons for these separately anyway. Because unfortunately, the public does not know what is what. We also wanted people to vent their frustrations during this two-day process. Of course, there will be those who act impulsively, and there will be those who make different statements. I am waiting for those friends as well, to bear witness to Haymana and what we have brought to Haymana in the last two and a half years," he said.

Expressing that they worked without spending a single day idle, Koç said, "Let alone a day, we put forward the concept of making time fruitful. Let us make time fruitful and carry this city to the place it deserves. And thank God, as I said, we have achieved most things at the point we have reached. We have realized 89.6 percent of our projects and promises, thank God. And from now on, there will be many more different works and projects that we will bring to our city. Because as I have always said, 7 million people have nowhere to go. 7 million people are trapped in Karagöl and Mogan in the summer, and in shopping malls in the winter. And every outer district has very different dynamics. We want to build these cities with those dynamics and be an answer to the question of Ankara parents, 'Where should we take our children on the weekend?' And hopefully, Haymana will be the district that gives the clearest answer to this," he said.

When asked by a journalist about the reaction of the people of Haymana, Koç said, "Of course, there are those among our fellow citizens who do not know the events. There will naturally be reactions from them, there will be justified points. But as I said, we will explain the process clearly, we will explain it point by point. When we explain to them what these accumulated grievances were and what brought us to this line, those fellow citizens of ours will kiss our foreheads, I am sure of that," he stated.

Regarding the question about his meeting with Mansur Yavaş, Koç replied, "We went to meet with my Mayor over the weekend, thanks to Mr. Ertan. That very famous 'he kissed his hand, he kissed his hand' talk is not like that. Our Mayor, by his nature, does not let his hand be kissed anyway.

We visited him, and during the visit, I only asked him this, which is the biggest problem: 'I have not been able to reach you for about 6 months. My district head can reach you, my council member can come and stay in your office for two and a half hours. Why can I not reach you?' I honestly looked for an answer to that question, but I received a very different answer from him.

'You did not inform me that you went to the Minister,' he said. Whereas I had already gone to the Minister three days before, that was not the answer. As I said, there are very different accumulated grievances. Of course, we will make the necessary explanations without breaking, without destroying, without offending; and of course, by giving the rightful person their due. Thank you," he answered.

News Source: İHA