22.05.2026 22:11
Following the court's 'absolute nullity' ruling on the CHP's 38th Ordinary Congress, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who was temporarily suspended from duty, spoke at the 'We Protect Our Party Will' rally held at the party headquarters. Describing his phone call with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu earlier this evening, Özel said, "I was asked a question, 'What do you say?' My answer is clear, I do not compromise. We want the ballot box and the congress as soon as possible."
The 36th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Appeals (BAM) ruled for the interim suspension of Özgür Özel and the party administration from duty, and for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his administration to take over, in the CHP congress case.
CHP appealed the decision and applied to the Supreme Election Council (YSK). The YSK held an extraordinary meeting to evaluate and decide on the application, and announced that it rejected CHP's objection.
Following the decision, Özel spoke at the 'We Are Protecting Our Party Will' rally held at the party headquarters.
Highlights from Özgür Özel's statements are as follows:
“WE ARE THOSE WHO PROTECT THEIR FAMILY”
"Family is everything. Whenever we are in trouble, we turn to our family; family is the one that holds our arm when we fall, touches our shoulder when we stumble. It is hard to endure its absence, but we bear the hardship. We endure everything, but we never allow our family's dignity to be trampled. You are my family. All democrats of this country are our family.
Those who worry about the future of this country, those who struggle for tomorrow, those who hold onto each other's shoulders and resist for tomorrow are our family. We are those who protect their family. We consider the poor, retirees, workers, tradesmen, farmers, and youth as our family. We protected our family on top of these buses in all squares. There were times we faced hardship, were attacked; in all provinces, all districts, wherever the paternal home is, my family stands before it. My family is with us.
"OUR CRIME IS REFUSING TO BE A CONTROLLED OPPOSITION"
Our crime is rebelling against the established order, our crime is refusing to be a controlled opposition, our crime is not sitting comfortably in the opposition seat but aiming for power for the nation. The issue is to hold accountable those who have taken away from the nation's table, to try to restore the nation's disrupted peace, to enlarge its shrinking bread. The issue is to object to the established order and disrupt the wheels of AKP's dark regime. That is the issue.
Today, we are not defending CHP; with this attack on CHP, we are defending democracy, the political party system, and the nation being the decision-maker, and the legacy of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to the Republic, and the right to vote and be elected. CHP is the nation's party. Appointed trustees cannot manage this party. AKP's subsidiaries cannot manage CHP; we will not allow it.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY IS THE LABOR PAIN"
What is happening today is the labor pain of tomorrow's power. We will endure this pain. We will be aware that this pain is a good omen. We will suffer, struggle, but we will bear it. Because after a hundred years, we will once again be the hope of this nation, we will save this nation. Without enduring the pain, the wheels of the established order cannot be broken. Without enduring the pain, AKP's dark order cannot be defeated. Even if torture lies ahead, we will endure their tortures; in the end, we will win.
AKP has aged, AKP is tired, AKP is exhausted. Erdoğan sees that he cannot win another election. Because of this, Erdoğan wants to leave the nation without a candidate, without a party, without a leader, without an option, and hopeless. The target of the attack is the entire democratic system.
All rights, all freedoms are targeted. He wants no one to raise their head, no one to object, no one person to be anyone's hope, no party to offer an alternative to the system, this regime to never lose, the losing ones to be workers and retirees, and the rich to smile. The objection is precisely to this, the objection is to AKP's dark order. The wind is now blowing in favor of labor, workers, the nation, and the people.
HE TOLD ABOUT HIS MEETING WITH KILIÇDAROĞLU: WE WANT THE BALLOT BOX AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, WE WANT A CONGRESS
I said, 'Do you see the street, do you hear the people, do you see my 80-year-old aunt and 15-year-old child crying side by side in the garden of this party's paternal home? Do you hear the uprising rising from all over Turkey?' Today, 65 bar associations from across Turkey are in rebellion; today, all professional organizations, all unions, political parties from far right to far left, all friends stand side by side, saying 'This is not a CHP issue, this is a Turkey issue' and expect something from you. I received a question, 'What do you say?' My answer is clear, I have no compromise. We want the ballot box as soon as possible, we want a congress.
"FIRST, WE WILL SAVE THE CONGRESS BALLOT BOX. THEN, WE WILL SAVE THE ELECTION BALLOT BOX"
Atatürk's ballot box will come before the CHP delegate and member. The election ballot box will come before this nation. Power will change. With the power of this square, we will bring the ballot box as well. We will get the rights of workers and retirees. We will be the hope of the youth. It is essential to bring your strength together. We are taking action for the congress right now. First, we will save the congress ballot box. Then, we will save the election ballot box. We will save the future of this country. We cannot abandon this struggle halfway.
This march will not stop, I promise you. This march is a march of dignity, a march of honor, a march of power for the victims, the oppressed, the good, the poor, the hardworking, and the honest. I wholeheartedly thank all political parties, civil society, professional chambers, and Bar Associations that grow solidarity organization by organization, square by square, step by step.
"DON'T THINK YOU CAN CRUSH THIS NATION LIKE AN ANT; THE ANT HAS A SIBLING, AND THAT IS THIS SQUARE ITSELF"
There comes a day when the world goes awry; those who cannot speak become orators, those who cannot heal become physicians, those who cannot write become scribes. Yet again, a day comes when things turn around; the deceiver one day begs for loyalty, the thief one day begs for justice, the beater one day begs for compassion. Don't dismiss the pawn; one day it becomes a king, but don't trust the king too much; one day it becomes checkmated. I say to the king too, and to those who trust the king, do not belittle this nation; do not say it is alone, it is solitary in this game; one day it becomes a king, and those who trust in their kingship one day become checkmated.
We will make pawns into kings, we will overcome the feet, we will say enough to the arrogant. Don't think you can crush this nation like an ant; the ant has a sibling, and that is this square itself. You came here to escape trouble and sorrow, to resist oppression, to challenge injustice. You are the salvation of this country, this nation, this people."