May 19 message from İmamoğlu: He clarifies that photo

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu attended the May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day ceremony at the Taksim Republic Monument.

After the ceremony, İmamoğlu gave the following messages:

"Happy May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day. It is the most critical moment of the struggle for liberation, led by a very determined young person at the age of 38. It is the day our Ancestor arrived in Samsun from Beşiktaş, Istanbul, 3 days earlier; it is the first step of determination. With that first step, the awakening of the nation and a magnificent national struggle, women, men, young and old, a struggle for freedom, a struggle for independence, and as a result, our nation's meeting with the Parliament in 1920 and then the Republic in 1923.

We all owe a great debt of gratitude to Atatürk, his comrades-in-arms, his fellow travelers, and our nation, in fact, to our ancestors. Commemorating Atatürk in the 21st century also imposes different responsibilities. From education to health, sports to culture and arts, industry to science and technology, and of course, justice and democracy in our Turkey. A great responsibility to reach the highest level in all these areas."

This responsibility is placed on every individual in society, but it is placed even more on us, the administrators. We are determined to bring all these feelings I mentioned to our nation in our beautiful Istanbul."

STATEMENT ON EFE DIALLO ERCAN

Regarding the question about 8-year-old Efe Diallo Ercan, who was subjected to racist attacks due to a photo taken with Ekrem İmamoğlu at the April 23 ceremony in Taksim, İmamoğlu gave the following response:

"He is our child, one side Turkish and the other of African descent. He comes with his grandmother, who says, 'I couldn't keep him at home, he wanted to come to the holiday with enthusiasm.' He is a child with autism, but he is intelligent and has high emotions. You saw the seriousness with which he came to the holiday. He asked, 'Where are the events tonight?' He asked about different districts. One's heart fills with something else when seeing his enthusiasm to participate in them. I wish beautiful holidays to that child and our other children."

News Source: 12punto