Here is the translation of the provided text into English: "Striking words from Özel regarding the prayer in Damascus: İbrahim Kalın is a civil servant."

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel made statements regarding MIT President İbrahim Kalın's visit to the Umayyad Mosque in Syria during a live broadcast he attended.

Kalın, who said, "İbrahim Kalın is a civil servant," continued, "He is not a representative of the AK Party. Even if he does things that would disrupt this in practice. He made a presentation to the AK Party, and I wrote him a letter. I said, 'What is happening, you should come to us too.' I said that information to be provided is valuable for the AK Party, as the leading party in the last elections. Thank God he came. During the October 29 ceremonies. 'Mr. President, I received your letter, and I agree with you,' he stated.

"IT IS NOT THE MIT PRESIDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE UP FOR ERDOĞAN'S PRAYER"

Özel continued, "We decided on a day. I told İbrahim Kalın there, 'We will stand where Turkey's interests require us to.' We criticize when we need to." He added, "We consider institutions as state institutions. The head of this institution can be the President or a party chairman, which is also a defect. This institution has a national name at its head. I see MIT as an institution that should be at an equal distance from us. I do not want to evaluate today's situation as a political show. Erdoğan had said in 2012, 'We will go to the Umayyad Mosque very soon.' That was 12 years ago. That prayer is not the same prayer. Even if he prays now, it is not the same prayer. There are so many martyrs and countless refugees. That prayer was the prayer of that day. It is not the responsibility of the MIT president to make up for Erdoğan's prayer," he said.