Meral Akşener reacts to Özgür Özel's demand for 'Sedefçi to withdraw from candidacy': 'Such lack of seriousness has never happened before'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel had criticized Edirne Mayor Hamdi Sedefçi for running as an İYİ Party candidate and had asked Sedefçi to withdraw from the race.

A reaction to this request from Özel came from İYİ Party Chairwoman Meral Akşener, who was attending an iftar program held in Edirne.

Akşener stated, "Such a lack of seriousness and shame has never existed in Turkish politics. How many times has this happened?"

HOW DID IT START?

Participating in a program on Halk TV, Özgür Özel asked İYİ Party candidate Hamdi Sedefçi to withdraw from the race, saying, "We expect maturity from the candidate, or if not, from the voters, so as not to leave Edirne to the AK Party."

İYİ Party Edirne Mayoral Candidate Hamdi Sedefçi, on the other hand, stated that they were ahead in the polls and asked the CHP candidate to withdraw.

"OUR FORMER MAYOR HAS NO CHANCE OF WINNING"

Özgür Özel had noted the following:

"Our elder, who served as our mayor until 2014, has also, thank you, become a candidate from the İYİ Party. We are currently neck and neck in Edirne. There has been a great momentum right now; we have a young candidate who is 40 years old. Our former mayor, who is a candidate from the İYİ Party, has no chance of winning there either; he knows this himself.

If he were to say during this period, 'There is a female candidate half my age, I will support this female candidate in the CHP, which I also served, rather than letting the AK Party win,' that would be a very classy thing. If not, I expect the conscience of the voter to be stirred. Edirne is not a place to be lost. We have currently moved from being 5-6 points behind in the polls to being a few points ahead, but there, we expect maturity and a shift from the candidate, or if not, from the voters, so as not to leave Edirne to the AK Party."

REACTION FROM MERAL AKŞENER: HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS HAPPENED?

Akşener expressed her reaction as follows:

"Now, I have seen that these politicians are very pleased with this masquerade throughout this entire journey. For example, Mr. Özgür Özel comes to Edirne and says, 'The AKP will win, do not ever vote for a party other than the CHP, and the İYİ Party candidate should show maturity and withdraw.' Such a lack of seriousness and shame has never existed in Turkish politics. How many times has this happened?

AKP ministers also come to another district of Edirne and say, 'Do not ever vote for anyone other than the AKP candidates. The votes will be split, and the CHP will come to power.' Without hearing the voice of the voter, without feeling what they want, and without making an effort to know this, they have made it very easy to get votes with a masquerade. We rejected this after the 2023 elections."

News Source: 12punto