Alliance statement from Özgür Özel: If Meral Hanım doesn't call, I will; I will hold transparent talks with HEDEP

CHP leader Özgür Özel answered questions from T24 Ankara Representative Gökçer Tahincioğlu, T24 columnist Tolga Şardan, and T24 reporter Eray Görgülü.

"The sister-brother relationship between Meral Hanım and me could allow the ice to melt," said Özel, making the following remarks regarding the local elections:

"If the İYİ Party approaches this matter constructively—and I believe the personal relationship between Meral Hanım and me will contribute to this. When I called her 'My Chairman' before, she would tell me to call her 'Sister'. She called to say 'Congratulations'. When she called me 'My Chairman', I said, 'How will this work now?', and we laughed. In other words, I think the sister-brother relationship between us can allow for the melting of any ice that needs to melt between the parties. The decision rests with the esteemed Chairman; if they make a separate decision, we will respect that as well. No one is obligated to form an alliance with us, but I think that in some way, across all of Turkey—not in every electoral district, but in places where we cannot win alone—causing a loss would mean a loss for the voters, our parties, and Turkey, and I think we would have difficulty explaining that. If they also see fit, we will initiate a constructive process."

"IF NO REQUEST COMES, WE WILL MAKE THE CALL"

Stating that no meeting has been planned yet with İYİ Party Chairman Meral Akşener, Özel said, "We have not made a decision on that matter yet. It could happen if Meral Hanım requests it. If no request comes from Meral Hanım, we might make a phone call and ask how we should proceed."

"WE WILL ALSO TALK TO HEDEP"

Noting that they will also hold talks with the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP), Özel continued as follows:

"Both Co-Chairs called me. They will also come for a 'congratulations' visit. I would like to hear at the level of chairmen exactly how HEDEP views the matter. We need to talk to each other. After meeting with the Co-Chairs, I will inform the Party Assembly about this. What does HEDEP really want? Because there are some statements. I would like to hear at the level of chairmen exactly how HEDEP views the matter. We are talking about a party that receives the votes of a significant portion of Kurds in Turkey and a portion of the left-wing electorate. But I don't have any 'it must be behind closed doors, we won't meet openly' kind of thing. Otherwise, the AK Party is already announcing an alliance that doesn't exist through disinformation. Saying 'They agreed, this happened, that happened.' If we do something, we will do it in plain sight; if we are not going to do it, we won't."

WHY DID HE SEND GREETINGS TO DEMİRTAŞ?

When asked about the criticism from some figures in the İYİ Party regarding his sending greetings to Selahattin Demirtaş in his party congress speech, and whether these criticisms would affect the cooperation process, Özel stated:

"It does not affect it from my perspective. First of all, that greeting is not just about Selahattin Demirtaş. I also mentioned the name of Selçuk Mızraklı. Along with him, I also mentioned the Gezi prisoners. The common feature of those I mentioned is not that they are from HEDEP, but that they have been subjected to serious injustice and lawlessness during their trial processes, and this has also been registered by Constitutional Court decisions. It is obvious that they were not tried fairly. I look at the matter from this perspective."

"THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH EKREM BEY THAT WE DEFINE AS A BROTHERHOOD"

Özel also responded to the question, "Ekrem İmamoğlu's influence on the Headquarters is being discussed. On the other hand, there are allegations that certain promises were made to convince delegates before the congress. How do you evaluate these?" as follows:

"As I have said before, there is a relationship between Chairman Ekrem and me that we define as a brotherhood. I have this relationship with many people in the CHP. For example, I have it with Burhanettin Bulut as well. That is why, knowing his skills in communication, I gave press relations to Burhanettin Bulut. I gave it to a friend who has successful experience in corporate relations in public relations, who can start everything from scratch, and who I think will treat everyone equally. We have not experienced anything that would damage our trust in each other with Ekrem Bey. Ekrem Bey is sealed to Istanbul, and I am sealed to the Republican People's Party. If we are going to put forward a claim regarding Turkey, then we will determine the most correct candidate; there is no such thing as it being determined as Ekrem İmamoğlu from today. Whoever will defeat Erdoğan or defeat the AK Party and make social democracy the ruling power in Turkey will be our candidate. We will win together. Some will try to spoil this relationship. I will not allow this. Ekrem Bey gives me information on issues related to Istanbul. I make suggestions to him. I consult with Ekrem Bey on party-related matters just as I consult with all my friends whom I love and trust, but to claim that there is a tutelage relationship between us is, first, a great injustice to me, second, to Ekrem Bey, and third, to the party. Some negative things are being talked about in both directions. In such matters, whoever knows something should go to the prosecutor. I won the congress in front of all of Turkey. I did not make any promises to any mayor for the congress. I also received many allegations. The party is doing this, this mayor is doing that, to the delegates. I said that Kemal Bey had no knowledge of it."

News Source: 12punto