16.04.2025 23:50
In a rally initiated by the CHP with the slogan "Defending the Will of the Nation," which was held for the second time in Beylikdüzü, the party's leader Özgür Özel targeted Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin. Özel stated, "You will imprison Turkey's most successful children, and then you will say they have an axe in their hands. They don't have an axe, but there is a pickaxe at the head of the Ministry of National Education."
CHP held the second of the rallies it started with the slogan "Defending the Will of the Nation" after the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Beylikdüzü.
ÖZEL'S REACTION TO MINISTER TEKİN
CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, addressing the crowd at the rally held in the Life Valley, reacted to National Education Minister Yusuf Tekin's statement regarding students who were detained and arrested during the protests organized to protest İmamoğlu's arrest, saying, "Those who participate in demonstrations with axes or similar items against our security forces are being detained; those who terrorize the democratic rights of other participants."
The relevant part of Özel's statements is as follows:
"THERE IS A DULLARD AT THE HEAD OF THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION"
"I have not seen a young person carrying an axe. But at the head of this country, I see an incompetent, untalented, and ill-intentioned person as the Minister of National Education. One should have a little shame. You will imprison the most successful children of Turkey and then say they have axes in their hands. They do not have axes, but there is a dullard at the head of the Ministry of National Education!
"YOU ARE THREATENING THE FREEDOMS AND FUTURES OF YOUNG PEOPLE"
They are trying to attack Turkey's most established high schools. They are taking capable teachers who have raised valuable graduates and bringing in teachers who are loyal to the ruling party. We stand behind the students who resist in high school. We stand behind the teachers and graduates. These young people opened their eyes during the AKP government. You have offered them nothing but financial difficulties and oppression, and now you are threatening their teachers, their freedoms, and their futures.