He had been nominated by İYİ Party: Akın Gürkan has resigned

Akın Gürkan, who was announced by İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener as the candidate for Mayor of Istanbul's Tuzla district, has resigned from the İYİ Party.

In his statement announcing his resignation, Gürkan said, "Despite being in the right, out of respect for our party and due to the upbringing I have received, while I was following the internal party disciplinary processes with great confidentiality, I have decided to leave the party I have worked so hard for due to this unjust slander and the conspiracies I have been subjected to by our party's own Provincial Chair."

"I COMPLETED MY DUTY WITH MY HEAD HELD HIGH"

In a message shared on his X social media account, Gürkan stated the following:

"To those who respect traditions, our esteemed voters, members of the press, and the Great Turkish Nation. At a time when our country is being rapidly dragged away from the light of Atatürk's Principles toward darkness through certain hands and forces recruited from within, I left all my work behind and took on the responsibility of entering politics for the sake of the Homeland, as every Turkish child would. In the İYİ Party, which I believed would be a hope for the bright future of our nation, I fulfilled all the responsibilities entrusted to me in line with my knowledge and experience under the leadership of our Chair, Ms. Meral Akşener, and completed my duty with my head held high.

I have made great contributions to my country and my people with both infrastructure and superstructure services in many parts of Anatolia. As someone coming from a deep-rooted family tradition, I have spent most of my life in Tuzla. With the great support shown to me by the people of Tuzla, I applied to my party to be a candidate for Mayor of Tuzla. As a result of the evaluation of the intense requests of the people of Tuzla by the party's upper echelons, I began my election campaign as the İYİ Party candidate for Mayor of Tuzla with the approval of İYİ Party Chair Ms. Meral Akşener.

"I LEFT THE MEETING WHERE THE ELECTION DECISION WAS TO BE MADE"

While all these positive developments were taking place, Mr. İbrahim Özkan, who had become the Deputy Group Chair of the İYİ Party in the municipal council through appointment as per tradition, resigned citing his own reasons. Following this resignation, the position of Deputy Group Chair remained vacant. For the deputy group chair election to be held that same day, Nurettin Sağırkaya, the İYİ Party Istanbul Provincial Vice Chair responsible for Local Governments, came to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) and said that since I and two of my friends were mayoral candidates, we could not be candidates for deputy group chair, and said, 'pick someone and get it over with.' That night, I called Provincial Vice Chair Nurettin Sağırkaya and conveyed to him that, just like the practices followed from the first day until today, the Deputy Group Chair should be appointed, otherwise, an election would be mandatory according to Article 56 of the bylaws, and that this situation could lead to chaos.

I learned that Nurettin Bey had conveyed this issue to Istanbul Provincial Chair Yücel Coşkun, who replied, 'let's wait for the evening.' I later learned that other İBB council members, along with me, had also called Yücel Coşkun and Nurettin Bey regarding the same issue that same night. However, Provincial Chair Yücel Coşkun did not make any move and practically left the matter in limbo. When no one else became a candidate, Mr. İbrahim Özkan wanted to be a candidate again, but I stated that this would not be right and left the meeting where the election decision was to be made. Following the meeting held afterward, an election decision was made, and İbrahim Özkan was re-elected as Deputy Group Chair in accordance with Article 56 of the bylaws.

It is confirmed by camera and television footage that I was at different meetings and television programs during this entire process of taking the meeting decision and holding the election. Afterward, the group decision book, which included everyone's signatures, was brought before me, showing that İbrahim Özkan was elected Deputy Group Chair in a vote held in accordance with the law as per Article 56 of the bylaws, excluding Suat Sarı and myself. Since no illegal action was taken, I also signed the group decision.

"CONSPIRACIES TAKING PLACE WITHIN THE PARTY..."

Although İYİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Yücel Coşkun knew about everything a day in advance and had the opportunity to prevent all these events, he did not take any action. Instead of immediately appointing a Deputy Group Chair by applying traditions, he waited for chaos to erupt, and then untruthfully declared to the headquarters and on television that he was unaware that a vote would be held. Afterward, he carried out the second phase of a conspiracy by referring all council members to the Provincial Disciplinary Board with a request for expulsion with precautionary measures.

After providing all necessary information to our headquarters and our Chair, while I was waiting with respect and calm for the decision to be made about me, İYİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chair Yücel Coşkun, who connected to a news program that Mr. İbrahim Özkan was attending, made untrue statements about me. He disclosed the internal party disciplinary process that was ongoing and should have remained confidential. He even went so far as to target my honor and dignity, slandering me by suggesting that I would withdraw from the mayoral candidacy—which was announced by our Chair herself, taking into account the requests of Tuzla residents—in favor of another party one week before the election. I would like to state that I, Akın Gürkan, who has lived for my dignity and honor throughout my life, and my family members have experienced a great shock and deep disappointment in the face of these slanders and attacks.

Despite being in the right, out of respect for our party and due to the upbringing I have received, while I was following the internal party disciplinary processes with great confidentiality, I have decided to leave the party I have worked so hard for due to this unjust slander and the conspiracies I have been subjected to by our party's own Provincial Chair. I declare that I will continue my work in the service of the Great Turkish Nation, moving away from the conspiracies taking place within the party and personal ambitions. Out of respect and my belief in traditions, I hereby announce to the public that I have resigned from the İYİ Party before being subjected to further injustice. Long live the Great Turkish Nation."

Respectfully announced to the public… pic.twitter.com/o8rJSELAjo

— Akın Gürkan (@AknGrkan1) December 25, 2023

News Source: 12punto