20.10.2026 17:45
NEW Party Chairman Özgür Özel, recalling at the parliamentary group meeting in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey that 34 days have passed since the fund scam came to light, said that the dismissal of the Capital Markets Board Chairman and the Deputy Minister was late. Özel, stating that in the 2027 budget 20 liras of every 100 liras of tax will go to interest, claimed that money for 62 apartments was found in the house of the right-hand man of the Esenyurt trustee.
New Party Chairman Özgür Özel said, “We will pay the highest interest we have ever paid in our history. Twenty lira of every 100 lira in taxes will go directly to interest payments. There will absolutely be no prosperity for 87 million people from this budget. This is a continuation budget made to maintain the AK Party’s dark order. 2026 was bad; unfortunately, I must say, 2027 will be much worse.”
New Party Chairman Özgür Özel spoke at his party’s group meeting in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Regarding his party’s provincial chairmanship primary elections held over the weekend, Özel said, “On Sunday, 65 percent of our members went to the polls and directly determined the party’s administration. We are at the beginning of the road; however, we are aware that we have taken an irreversible step. We all see together that in the future this will set an example for all parties, that in a place where all members have determined the New Party’s candidate, other parties’ district chairs will have much stronger legitimacy, power, and stance, that provincial chairs now draw their strength directly from members rather than from anyone’s lips or delegate bargaining, and that from now on their work will be subject to all members’ appreciation, oversight, support, and criticism. When we come to power, by bringing this into the Political Parties Law, we already announce that we will implement the election of provincial, district, and general chairs with the participation of all parties’ members under judicial supervision.” he said.
FUND HEIST AND CMB RESIGNATIONS
Addressing economic developments and fund investigations, Özel said, “Our nation is struggling to make a living and survive amid multiple crises. But let us not forget that none of the problems we are experiencing fell from the sky. The cost of living did not fall from the sky. Distrust in the state did not fall from the sky. Anxiety about the future did not fall from the sky. Nepotism, favoritism, and polarization did not fall from the sky. All of these are the result of wrong bricks stacked on top of one another. You cannot build a proper wall with the wrong bricks. If you build a wall with the wrong bricks, in the end you too will be buried under that wall—God forbid, so will the nation. That is why the story of those buried under that wall is the fund swindle, becoming more tragic every day, with its dimensions and effects growing larger every day. While the nation writhes in the struggle to make ends meet, on the path opened by the ruling party, the ruling party’s members have carried out the heist of the century, the swindle of the century. Exactly 34 days have passed since this swindle was exposed. On the first day, those who said ‘Let it go wherever it leads’ suddenly changed course when it touched them. They formed a Fund Coordination Committee, met six times, and did not solve the problem. Far from solving it, they could only persuade the people they included in the meeting to resign yesterday. They are trying to muddy the waters by saying ‘external forces’ and confuse the nation’s mind, trying to evade responsibility. Every day the crisis deepens a little more. Abuse, mismanagement, and bad faith are proven a little more. New victims are added to millions of victims every day.” he stated.
Touching on the dismissals and resignations within the Capital Markets Board (CMB) and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, Özel said, “The current CMB Chairman was still in place until yesterday; the Deputy Minister was still in place. The filth was running down their trousers, but Erdoğan could not dismiss them. Do you know why? So that any bureaucrat he might dismiss would not reveal whom they had past ties with—that is, so they would not say ‘Yes, we took the 30 million, and the Bursa MP brokered it,’ so they would not say ‘Yes, we allowed this fund, and so-and-so from your family called,’ or so they would not say ‘Yes, we noticed it in the audit, but so-and-so minister was behind it, what could I do?’ Erdoğan could not dismiss them. For a full 34 days he could not dismiss them. Six times he attended a fund swindle meeting with the CMB chairman. Then somehow, finally, these three resigned yesterday. At 12:04 last night, he wrote the names of all three and put his signature nicely underneath. By God, a cool signature. ‘I have dismissed all three, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.’ Where were you until noon yesterday, little brother-in-law? Where were you until noon yesterday?” he said.
20 LIRA OF EVERY 100 LIRA IN TAXES GOES TO INTEREST
Regarding the 2027 central government budget submitted to Parliament, Özel said, “Now this rotten administration has prepared the budget that will again stick the bill for this to the nation—to 87 million people. In accordance with the Constitution, it sent it to Parliament 75 days before the new year. We are working meticulously on it; we will speak in the Plan and Budget Committee. We will discuss this budget in the streets, talk with citizens. We will do our part in the General Assembly. This budget also has a meaning for us; friends, we are dealing with the only budget in which the New Party is in opposition—the only budget. Look, the 2027 central government budget is in Parliament; total expenditure is 27 trillion 276 billion, total revenue is 23 trillion 408 billion. The budget deficit is accepted in advance at 3.9 trillion lira. Compared with last year, the budget deficit is increasing by 42 percent. They announced in the last budget they made that they would post the record budget deficit of the history of the Republic. Now to taxes. What will they take from the nation? Taxes are increasing by 36 percent compared with last year; that is how they planned it. So what is the inflation target? 21 percent. According to what will they give raises? According to the targeted inflation. That is, while people’s income would normally rise by 21 percent, if you raise the price of a good by 36 percent, they say ‘There is 15 percent opportunism,’ they say ‘Inflation is rising because of you.’ They will give raises accordingly. To whom? To civil servants, pensioners, and everyone to whom they pay salaries—state workers. They are collecting taxes at exactly 15 points above inflation. In the new year, the amount to be paid in interest on all our behalf is 3 trillion 975 billion. Last year it was 2.7 trillion lira. Interest is increasing by 45 percent compared with last year. We will pay the highest interest we have ever paid in our history. Twenty lira of every 100 lira in taxes will go directly to interest payments. That is, those who once said ‘I have declared war on interest,’ who called the nation ‘usurers,’ are in the real sense interest-mongers, usurers, funders, and swindlers. There will absolutely be no prosperity for 87 million people from this budget. This is a continuation budget made to maintain the AK Party’s dark order. 2026 was bad; unfortunately, I must say, 2027 will be much worse.” he said.
Speaking about the floods and inundations that affected Istanbul, Özel said, “Last week, eight people lost their lives in the flood in Istanbul, and look, the trolls are silent—not a single sound. AK Party MPs are not sharing flood images. Ministers have not put on boots and staged a show. One minister is around, and he too is silent. We said ‘Good God.’ In 2009, 31 people lost their lives in Ayamama, Istanbul. Looking at the flood-affected areas from a helicopter, Erdoğan had said, ‘From now on we will not allow construction in the riverbed. I will have what I had built demolished.’ He did not do this himself, and the reason nothing happened in Ayamama in this flood is that, as Ekrem İmamoğlu promised, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality budget purchased and evacuated the multi-story buildings Tayyip Erdoğan had built, had them demolished, corrected the stream Erdoğan had made into an ‘S,’ widened and cleaned the stream he had narrowed, and ensured that Ayamama now flows into the sea, not into death and disaster.” he stated.
MONEY FOR 62 FLATS FROM THE ESENYURT TRUSTEE’S RIGHT-HAND MAN
Regarding the dismissal of Esenyurt Acting Mayor Can Aksoy, Özel said, “This week something came out. What came out? He rented a house to keep the bribe money and equipped the house with safes. First, $450,000, 31,000 euros, and 2.5 million liras came out of his own home inside this house. That was what was initially believed. Then $7 million, 400,000 euros, watches, and gold came out of the safe house. Friends, the money for 62 apartments came out of this rented house. The money for 62 brand-new apartments. From whom? You know, on October 30, 2024, they raided Esenyurt, detained Ahmet Özer, and called him both a ‘terrorist’ and a ‘thief.’ The gentleman trustee appointed in his place that day was Can Aksoy. On the day he was appointed, he was actually a district governor, but they quickly made him a deputy governor so that he could be brought to that position. The moment he took office, the trustee brought in his closest friend, Yusuf Ulutaş, the former Deputy Mayor of Beyoğlu Municipality. All of these came out of this gentleman’s house; the money for 62 apartments. The right-hand man of the Esenyurt trustee took the bribe and filled the house with it,” he said.
LIVE BROADCAST REMARKS IN THE İMAMOĞLU TRIAL
Speaking about the trial of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Özel said, “We asked for a live broadcast because we trust ourselves. Mr. Bahçeli said, ‘Let it be done.’ Mr. Erdoğan said, ‘It is appropriate.’ Our group deputy chairs submitted the motion; it was rejected with the votes of the AK Party and the MHP. Has it now become blatantly obvious? Because I vouched for my friends, because I know what they did and did not do, I asked for a live broadcast. Devlet Bey and Tayyip Bey, because they believed Akın Gürlek, threw down the gauntlet. Then, when the indictment came out, they voted ‘Absolutely not’ on our side’s motion. Is it clear now? Are we clear now, Mr. Bahçeli? When Erdoğan asked for a live broadcast, did you see the journalists saying, ‘Reis saw the challenge; their scandals will come out’? I wanted this defense to be broadcast live. You backtracked and stepped back because you saw that this indictment is a rag. Ekrem İmamoğlu’s innocence is as real as Mount Ararat,” he said.
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