Striking statement from Özgür Özel regarding the İmamoğlu case: 'We are going to judge'

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel participated in a series of programs in Eskişehir as part of March 8 International Women's Day. During his various visits in the city, he gave speeches on women's rights and politics. He also touched upon the case with 402 defendants, which begins tomorrow and includes Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu among the defendants.

STATEMENTS ON THE İMAMOĞLU CASE

During his contacts in Eskişehir, Özel made an important statement regarding the monitoring of the case in Istanbul. Referring to the case with 402 defendants, the CHP Chairman said, “We are going to Silivri not to be judged, but to judge.” Emphasizing that the case is critical for the manifestation of justice, Özel stressed that they would follow the proceedings closely.

CONTACTS IN ESKİŞEHİR

Özgür Özel held various meetings during his visit to Eskişehir. He began his program by visiting the former Mayor of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, Yılmaz Büyükerşen, at his home, accompanied by Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ayşe Ünlüce, Women's Branches Chairwoman Asu Kaya, Provincial Chairman Talat Yalaz, and Eskişehir deputies Utku Çakırözer, İbrahim Arslan, and Jale Nur Süllü.

VISIT TO THE CHP PROVINCIAL PRESIDENCY

Afterward, Özel went to the CHP Eskişehir Provincial Presidency and met with Provincial Chairman Talat Yalaz. Addressing the citizens gathered in front of the municipal building, Özel explained the reasons for his visit to Eskişehir. He stated that the sensitivity shown by a city with a female mayor regarding women's politics was the reason they were hosted there.

“EKREM İMAMOĞLU’S TRIAL BEGINS TOMORROW”

CHP leader Özel stated that the trial against the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality would begin tomorrow, arguing that Ekrem İmamoğlu was being targeted for political reasons.

Özel used the following expressions:

"Tomorrow is March 9. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has not been defeated by Tayyip Erdoğan in any election he has entered to date, has not been defeated by the candidates he endorsed, first won Beylikdüzü from the Justice and Development Party, then won Istanbul three times—including one election that was canceled—and whose satisfaction rate has exceeded 60 percent in all polls and public opinion surveys, and who is being punished for this reason, will have his hearing tomorrow. Many of our mayors are being tried along with him. The saying, 'How can a mayor be tried in a place where Melih Gökçek is not tried' is not my saying. This is the saying of AK Party members. It is the saying of those who have served as deputy prime ministers in the AK Party."

"CAN A WITNESS HAVE A SUBSTITUTE?"

"Our foreheads are clear, our heads are held high. Throughout the summer and winter, the slanders thrown at us have been debunked one by one; none of them could be found in the indictment, and none of the claims could be proven. As the former so-called Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul, who was effectively the head of the judiciary branch of the Justice and Development Party, and the current AK Party Minister of Justice said, ‘the main basis of our file is secret witnesses.’ Mayor Ekrem was questioned a year ago about what he had to say regarding the confessions of secret witness 'Meşe'; Meşe retracted all his statements and withdrew as a secret witness. Instead, they had a new secret witness named 'İlke' give the same statements. Imagine that there is a third person who says 'I saw' an event between two people. You arrest someone based on what they say, then they say 'I didn't see it, I withdraw.' You bring someone else and make them a secret witness. A player substitution happens in cinema. You can't agree with an actor, they leave and someone else comes. It happens in theater; someone gets sick, and someone else plays the role instead. It happens in football; someone gets injured, and someone else enters. Can a witness have a substitute? Can a witness be changed? The man slanders by saying 'I saw this event.' Then he says 'I didn't see it,' and they bring someone else in his place who says 'I saw it.' With the same words, down to the punctuation."

“THEY CLAIMED 560 BILLION LIRA IN CORRUPTION, THEY COULD NOT PROVE IT”

Arguing that the allegations could not be proven, Özel said:

"That is why we were so sure, so confident in ourselves from the very first day, because this nation distinguishes between those who tell the truth and those who lie. When all these things—being a diploma forger, a briber, a bid rigger, a spy, and all those scandals about planes—are said about one person at the same time, and they all turn out to be lies, the nation says, 'It means they cannot find a crime on this man. But they want to bring him down. The man's crime is being the presidential candidate of the party marching toward power.' That is why we are now going to Silivri not to be judged, but to judge. We had said until the indictment came out, 'This indictment will not embarrass us. It will embarrass those who lie.' You followed it very closely. They said ‘560 billion lira in corruption,’ they could not prove 560 kuruş of it. They said ‘there is money in the suitcases,’ a jammer came out of them. They said ‘Ekrem İmamoğlu has luxury vehicles,’ they turned out to belong to an MHP deputy. They said ‘we found millions of euros under the parquet,’ it turned out they didn't find a single cent. They said ‘there is footage,’ it turned out there was no footage. They said ‘there is a secret witness,’ there is a witness, but it turned out the secret witness withdrew. All the secret witnesses they found have histories of child abuse, theft, harassment, or rape... They find whatever criminal types there are, make them tell a lie, and build a narrative on that. That is why I am going to Silivri today after this beautiful program and this beautiful city, with my forehead clear and my head held high, and I invite our nation to watch how a lie collapses."

“THEY DID NOT ACCEPT OUR LIVE BROADCAST PROPOSAL”

Stating that their proposal for the trial to be broadcast live was not accepted, Özel said:

"While all these lies were being told and these slanders were being fanned by five or six people for four or five hours a night on all television channels, we were confident in ourselves. In those days, they acted with such self-confidence that Mr. Bahçeli also said, 'If Mr. Özgür wants a live broadcast, then let it be broadcast live. Let the nation see everything.' They asked Mr. Tayyip, and he said, 'If Mr. Devlet said so, he knows something. Sure, whatever.' The indictment came out, they did not accept our law proposal for a live broadcast. Why don't they? They are afraid that the nation will say 'Is this what you call evidence?' as there is nothing in the indictment that will embarrass us or make us hang our heads, and nothing we cannot account for, so they want it to be in a corner, out of sight.

Now they have taken so many precautions, for a month in Silivri, oh, a one-kilometer radius, this is banned, that is banned... My God, what is this fear? We are not going to Silivri to cause an incident; we are after a fair trial."

“LET'S SAY WE ARE GOING TO A MATCH TOMORROW, THE REFEREE IS WEARING THE OPPOSING TEAM'S JERSEY"

Calling on party members before the hearing to be held in Silivri, Özel said:

"I say this on a blessed day, they attempted something that shouldn't be done; we don't know how much the nation heard or noticed. It was said for a year that this case would be heard in the 40th High Criminal Court. The 40th High Criminal Court has a presiding judge who is a fellow townsman of Akın Gürlek and is in very close contact with him. There are also two members. It is not clear what those two members will do. They couldn't be quite sure. They sent one presiding judge and two more members to this court. Two new members, sent from outside, were placed next to the presiding judge whom Akın Gürlek likes very much. They made it three out of three according to their own calculations and gave the case to this panel. They brought a presiding judge from outside to head the other two members who might have been able to make a fair decision in their own minds. They will look at other cases. Let's say we are going to a match tomorrow, the referee is wearing the opposing team's jersey.

I say this to everyone who values my word. Whoever wants to, please come. Our 81 provincial chairmen and our friends from 81 provinces will come on the day of Mayor Ekrem's hearing. Please come. But I do not want anything there that will cast a shadow on our righteousness. If someone pushes the shoulder of my gendarme brother, we will be in the wrong while we are in the right. In the past, there were provocations against our state. Now those who have taken over the state are provoking our nation. That circular of bans they announced, you announced it last year on March 31, on March 19. You arrested young people based on that for participating in an unauthorized demonstration. They were all acquitted. The judge wrote it as clear as day. 'It is not a crime for young people to participate in the March 19 protest, because it is a constitutional right. Banning these is a crime, it is against the Constitution,' he says. But now I will do it again, let a decision come out again a year later. We will be very meticulous. Of course, we are crowded, of course, we are strong. Of course, we are angry. But we will control our anger. We will not do anything that will put us in the wrong while we are in the right."

“WHAT MATTERS IS THE COURT IN THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION”

"Imagine a judge says 'I will conduct a trial like this.' He will make a decision. It is very simple. Of course, he will first listen to the detainees to make an interim decision regarding detention. It is a procedure to do this by starting from the one with the least requested sentence to the most. It is also a procedure to start from the one with the most requested sentence and go to the least. He will say how he will do this. Think about it, in the Beşiktaş courthouse, in Aziz İhsan Aktaş, they said 'We will go from smallest to largest. We are starting from Adıyaman.' He doesn't even say this, he doesn't give appointments to lawyers, he doesn't accept them at his door so that we don't know if Mayor Ekrem's statement and identity checks will take one day, or if he will do it on Tuesday or a month and a half later? We will only be able to learn this tomorrow.

That is why I am in Istanbul for three days now. I will be there when Mayor Ekrem gives his statement, we will all be there together. But he is hiding it so that if it is a month and a half later, let it be this way or that way? Let them try as much as they want. This nation knows who is right, knows who is innocent, and sees the oppression. Such oppression. Keep him inside for a year. Create a separate panel with two reinforcements to the court's presiding judge. Create a three-out-of-three Akın Gürlek-designed panel, he will make a decision there, and before that, he is provoking us so that there will be a fight, a brawl, and so on.

We have entered the hearts of this nation. You have dragged yourselves into a disgraceful place in the hearts of this nation. We will not be involved in any mistake that will change this. We are like darkness and light. We are like evil and goodness. We are like courage and cowardice. We are the exact opposites, and we are in the best place in the hearts of the nation. Those who are slanderers in the hearts of the nation, those who throw insults, those who find false witnesses, those who attempt the most shameless act in the world like changing a false witness will be convicted at the end of this. We will all see together what decision the special panel will make in court; what matters is the court in the conscience of the nation. We were acquitted there. We will maintain our righteous position until the end.”

News Source: 12punto