22.08.2026 13:11
Speaking at the '2nd Brotherhood Nomadic Yörük Event' he attended in Mersin, CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu said, 'Wherever in Turkey there is a Yörük tent, we have sworn to bring services there, including education services, electricity services, and school services. We will do this, but we ask for your support. We are asking for votes for the CHP. Give us the government, and you will see how services are provided and how moral values are protected; we will do all of these.'
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu attended the "2nd Fraternal Nomads Yörük Event" held in Mersin. Kılıçdaroğlu was presented with a Turkish flag, a flat cap, a Yörük shawl, prayer beads, and a Yörük walking stick carved from the locally grown demircik tree with a knife.
In his speech here, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu noted the following:
"If you allow me, let me express my thoughts with a quatrain by Karacaoğlan: 'Let the snow of the mountains melt, let it melt. Let it melt and cover the flat plains. Let the Turkmen Bey march to his highland pasture. Let the purple lambs bleat, and let us go.' This is the season when purple lambs bleat and nomads ascend to the highlands. Therefore, I am extremely happy to be here, to be with you, and to be at a Yörük festival. I would also like to state to you that my roots are Yörük, that I know the Yörük culture, and that I experienced that culture in my childhood.
"YÖRÜK MEANS THE SWEAT OF ONE'S BROW" We are together to keep alive a culture, a way of life, a spirit of solidarity, and the memory of these lands that have lived in the Taurus Mountains for centuries. Being a Yörük does not only mean a nomadic way of life. Yörük means freedom. Yörük means the sweat of one's brow. Yörük means solidarity. Yörük means not giving up under difficult conditions, sharing one's bread, and considering a neighbor's trouble as one's own. Yörükness is a great heritage carried to these days through the steep paths of the Taurus Mountains, the coolness of the highlands, and the heat of the plains. And this heritage is not just a memory of the past; it is a very great value that we will carry to the future. This is also the meaning of our gathering here today as fraternal nomads. Because we know that what makes us strong is not only our differences, but being able to keep our differences alive in brotherhood. One of the most important values of Yörük culture is this: sharing. Sharing bread when sitting at a table. Making room for a neighbor when setting up a tent. Not saying 'It's not my problem' when there is trouble. This is the essence of our brotherhood in Anatolia.
"WE ARE ASKING FOR VOTES FOR CHP" Let no one forget, the tent of the Taurus Mountains is Turkey's hope. Today, keeping the Yörük culture alive does not only mean preserving our own folk songs, dances, clothes, and foods. The essential thing is to protect the Yörük's labor. It is to stand by the problems of our citizens engaged in animal husbandry. It is to think about the highlander's road, the highland's water, and the highland's electricity. It is to ensure that the producer receives the equivalent of their labor. It is to pave the way for our young people to build a future in their own homeland. Our Metropolitan Municipality Mayor explained all the initiatives regarding the Yörüks in the local government here, but not only in Mersin, we have sworn to carry services anywhere in Turkey if there is a Yörük tent, whether it be education, electricity, or schooling services. We will do this, but we ask for your support. We are asking for votes for CHP. Give us the government, and you will see how service is done, how moral values are protected. We will do all of these.
"YOUR TENTS ARE THE PRIDE OF EVERY CITIZEN" Therefore, our understanding of politics is not just knocking on people's doors from election to election, but solving their problems by touching their lives. A politics that does not solve problems becomes a problem itself. If our Yörük brothers have animals, politics must talk about the cost of their feed; if they go to the highlands, their transportation; if they produce, their market; if their child studies, their education. Because politics is meaningful when it touches people's lives. Your tents are the tents of the War of Independence. Your tents are the tents where the poor are fed. Your tents are places where the sweat of one's brow is sacred. Your tents are the pride of every citizen in Turkey. You should know this. That tent is a resistance. That tent is rising smoke, a hope. And that tent is also the nation's will for independence. As long as the Yörük tent stands in the Taurus Mountains, there is solidarity, there is hope, there is bread, there is labor, there is brotherhood.
"WE WILL MAKE THE VOICE OF THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS HEARD IN ANKARA" And today, we are together here to grow that fire even more. And we promise for a happy future: we will never allow the Yörük culture to disappear. We will never ignore the problems of our nomads. We will make the voice of the Taurus Mountains heard in Ankara and all over Turkey. We will stand by those who produce, who work, and who sweat. And we will leave our children not just a culture of the past, but a future they will be proud of. May the wind of the Taurus Mountains be with us. May the abundance of the highlands never be missing from our tables. May the fire of our hearths never, ever go out. May our brotherhood always endure. Let us not forget, if we have a tent, we have hope. If our hearth is smoking, we have a future. If we stand by each other, the tomorrows of this nation are certainly bright. I wish our Fraternal Nomads Yörük Event to be auspicious and sincerely thank everyone who contributed. Long live the Yörük culture. Long live our brotherhood. Long live the free spirit of the Taurus Mountains. Long live Turkey's unity, togetherness, and integrity."