14.00 | Mansur Yavaş speaks
The first speaker at the rally was Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş. He stated, “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that these actions are political.”
14.15 | İmamoğlu’s letter was read
Following Yavaş’s speech, CHP Düzce Provincial Chairman Özcan Dağıstanlı read a letter from İmamoğlu, currently imprisoned in Silivri Prison. The letter began with, “Dear people of Düzce, my beloved brothers who love this country as their own life; even though I can’t be with you today, I embrace you all with my deepest feelings.”
İmamoğlu continued: “They think that walls and bars can separate us. They believe that by imprisoning me, they can sever my bond with you. They assume that I will forget my infinite love for this nation just because I am detained. They think they can eradicate the sense of justice among our people by politicizing the law for their own interests. They mistakenly believe the autocratic regime will last forever, and that they can make judges and prosecutors at will…“
“DON’T LOSE HOPE”
Do not lose hope. They can label us as a ‘criminal organization’ as much as they like. The public is fed up with these accusations. The citizens know perfectly well who is protecting everyone living on this soil, rather than just a handful of elites. İmamoğlu has defeated these profligates four times and will continue to do so. […] Their attempts are failing miserably, and the more they try to rush their baseless cases, the more the truth ends up backfiring on them.
“THEY ARE IMPLEMENTING VISIT RESTRICTIONS”
Dear people of Düzce; fear has no benefit against death. Their panics are so great that they have canceled my 30-year diploma. Not enough; they declared me guilty and imprisoned me before even having an indictment. They even prohibited my voice and image on social media. They are so afraid that they have imposed a visiting ban on me while in prison. However, their plans will not work.
This struggle has made us stronger. Soon, we will celebrate all our festivals together. Despite all the injustices and the oppressions we have faced, we will not give up and we will certainly succeed.
14.21 | Özgür Özel starts to speak
After İmamoğlu’s speech, CHP leader Özgür Özel took the stage. Key points from Özel’s speech included:
“They told me not to go; they said it was AK Party territory. They forgot the sense of justice among the citizens of Düzce. That era is over. This government has taken votes from the people of Düzce for years. But now, Düzce belongs neither to the AKP nor any other party; it solely belongs to the people.
“ERDOĞAN HAS BECOME A TYRANT”
Those who attack the institutional identity of our party and conspire against our general chairman have no right to speak lightly. The party will become the leading party after 47 years. We will not abandon İmamoğlu, nor the Republican People’s Party.
Dün mağdur olan Erdoğan, bugün zalim olmuştur. Erdoğan, kendisine daha önce yapılmayanları bugün masum rakibine yapmaktadır.
AKTAŞ’S TESTIMONY AGAINST İMAMOĞLU
The individual responsible for the detention of our friends is Aziz İhsan Aktaş. He has accepted tenders from various municipalities and public institutions. We have sending all the tender files from our municipalities. Yet they tell us they need something from after 2019.
We woke up to another wave of operations today. Do you know why they conducted these operations on a Saturday? So that the stock market wouldn’t drop, and the dollar wouldn’t soar. If what you are doing is legal, you wouldn’t conduct these operations just before the weekend.
The current government is attempting a coup against the future government. Erdoğan is no longer the legitimate president; he has now become a junta president.
This morning we learned of a new wave of operations targeting CHP municipalities, with detention warrants for 47 individuals, 30 of whom have already been detained. Following this, the CHP stated that the rallies will continue, with a focus on these operations.
In summary, the political atmosphere in Turkey is rife with tensions that impact justice and governance. The events sparked by Imamoğlu’s imprisonment and the subsequent actions by the CHP signal a larger struggle for democracy. The future of Turkish politics may well hinge on the outcomes of these ongoing legal and social battles.
General News – 1