İmamoğlu gives the "Demirel salute" at the Süleyman Demirel commemoration program

Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu attended the "Commemorating the 9th President Süleyman Demirel on his 100th Birthday" program organized by the Country Policies Foundation. The program was also attended by IYI Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu, mayors, representatives of numerous political parties and non-governmental organizations, as well as the Demirel family.

During the event, speeches were delivered respectively by Country Policies Foundation President Doğan Subaşı, Demirel's doctor and former Chief Advisor to the President and 27th Term Isparta Deputy Aylin Cesur, TBB and IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and IYI Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu.

Delivering the opening speech, İmamoğlu said:

"I am deeply honored to be here and to commemorate the late Mr. Süleyman Demirel, one of the leaders with the longest career in Turkish political history—a politician who, in his own words, left 6 times and returned 7 times—a statesman, prime minister, and president who left his mark on our recent history with his distinct characteristics in different periods of the country, and to listen to our very esteemed elders who were his companions on his life's journey. On this occasion, I would like to thank the Country Policies Foundation for organizing this beautiful gathering. Honorable IYI Party Chairman, very esteemed Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye who has provided superior services to our country in the past, our ministers, our valuable deputies, our very esteemed elders who have served political parties, our valuable deputies currently in active duty, as well as the valuable representatives and chairmen of our political parties, mayors, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to you all."

"TURKIYE'S TWO GREAT POLITICAL TRADITIONS"

"A very valuable person, with a very strong technical side, an achiever, an exceptional bureaucrat and administrator. He had a unique characteristic. With all the traits given to him by perhaps that authentic state of Anatolia, he was sincere, genuine, a true master of words with his unique style of conveying what he felt... It is certainly not easy to speak about such a colorful and multi-faceted leader. Of course, another difficulty is that I, a politician from the Republican People's Party, am the one speaking about Mr. Demirel..." continued İmamoğlu, adding, "The political tradition Mr. Demirel came from and the Republican People's Party are actually Türkiye's two great political traditions. They form what you might call an eternal rivalry. Of course, in one respect, these are two traditions that come from the same root. Yet, we all know how harsh and exhausting the political rivalry between them could be at times in the past. We also know very well that members of both traditions no longer look at each other through the lenses of the 1950s or 1970s," he stated.

News Source : 12punto