06.04.2025 14:51
In the 21st Extraordinary Congress, Özgür Özel was re-elected as the Chairman of the CHP, entering the election as the sole candidate. In the Congress, where 1,276 votes were cast, Özel received all of the 1,171 valid votes.
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CHP's 21st Extraordinary Congress was a scene of great excitement. After Muratpaşa Mayor Ümit Uysal withdrew from the race and Berhan Şimşek was late to apply, Özgür Özel, who entered the race as the sole candidate, was re-elected as the Chairman.
Former party leaders Altan Öymen, Hikmet Çetin, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, former SHP Chairman Murat Karayalçın, mayors, honorary members, and delegates attended today's congress of CHP.
In the congress hall, a seat next to Özgür Özel was reserved for Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his position as the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB).
After Antalya Muratpaşa Mayor Ümit Uysal withdrew from the candidacy just minutes before the election and former MP Berhan Şimşek was late to apply, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, who entered the election as the sole candidate, achieved victory with a record vote. Özel received 1171 out of 1276 votes, while 105 votes were deemed invalid.
In his speech at the beginning of the congress, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said, "Hello to all democrats of Turkey. To the tens of millions who took to the streets and squares to resist the March 19 coup, to our mayors who are detained, to Çiğdem Mater, who is held there despite being acquitted three times to intimidate them if they seek justice again in the Gezi case, to Osman Kavala, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman in Silivri, to all political prisoners from other parties, to the party leaders, and to my brave one, my lion, the elected president of İBB, the next presidential candidate of Turkey, Ekrem İmamoğlu, hello."
"ON MARCH 31, WE SHATTERED THE GLASS CEILING THAT WAS SAID TO BE IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK."
CHP is a party that has achieved significant development in a short time, recognizing many human rights for its citizens much earlier than Western countries. It is the party that built the multi-party democratic regime. CHP is the party of İsmet Paşa, who could say that the defeat in the first election was a victory for Turkish democracy. In the March 31 elections, the nation made our party the first party after 47 years, and for the first time in 22 years, it brought the AK Party down to the second party position. Our party shattered the so-called unbreakable 25% glass ceiling in elections entered without any alliance with any party, becoming the first party in Turkey with 38% of the votes.
We saw that the inclusive hand carried CHP to power with firm steps, and they saw it too. Without disregarding the organization, without seeing it as a burden, by attributing the faults in the organization to ourselves and the praise to them, we strengthened the organization and held countless rallies together in the field, on the streets, and in the struggle, quickly warming our party up again. We held rallies for retirees in Ankara to protest the pension increase, a tea rally in Rize, a wheat rally in Hayabolu, a hazelnut rally in Giresun, a pistachio rally in Gaziantep, a farmers' rally in Manisa, and a labor rally in Gebze.
"IN MARCH AVERAGES, POLLS SHOW CHP AS THE FIRST PARTY IN TURKEY."
The democracy exam is given when it loses. The ruling party has shown the whole world that it could not pass the exam it failed after the elections it lost for the first time. They attempted to intimidate both our municipalities and the opposition by using public power against their rivals. They began to systematically and plannedly take steps to establish a despotic regime. The nation continued to make CHP the first in all polls. In the average of all polls conducted before the Saraçhane process, CHP is still the first party in Turkey today.
"THEY CARRIED OUT OPERATIONS TO INTIMIDATE SOCIETY."
By initiating a wave of lawlessness, they carried out operations that could intimidate all segments of society, making arrests for crimes that had no basis, and creating a situation where people could not object, tweet, or make statements again, starting a witch hunt from images from 12-13 years ago, and designed special operations to spread the feeling that actions similar to Gezi would be punished by the state even after 12 years. Their main goal was to obstruct Ekrem İmamoğlu, who defeated Erdoğan's candidates. Those who disrespected the will of the nation did not hesitate to stand against the state and the nation. The nation would either remain silent or resist this coup. At that moment, when the nation was at its most difficult days, it looked into the eyes of those from whom it drew energy. It looked into the eyes of the party of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. We set out saying that the candidate for early elections would also be determined early. We fulfilled our commitment to hold a primary election with all members. We kept registrations open with a target of 100,000 new members, and I would like to express that our membership has now reached 1 million 900 thousand.
They started the planned coup by canceling a diploma obtained 31 years ago and conducting an operation against Ekrem İmamoğlu and his friends at sahur time the next morning. When we put the ballot box in front of the nation on the primary election day, they brought Ekrem İmamoğlu before the judge. They sent a message about how much our eyes turned for the result, like the actions of the Italian mafia filled with messages. They described the solidarity ballot box by saying that the ballot box is now the ballot box of all democrats.
"THE PROSECUTION HAS COLLAPSED, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE."
They are looking for false witnesses to write an indictment; the prosecution has collapsed, and there is no evidence. They are calling the owners of firms that previously worked at İBB and now work in the public sector to discuss their inclination towards false testimony. Sometimes at the courthouse in Istanbul, sometimes at judges' houses, we have detailed information about each of them. These individuals say, "I didn't go there, Istanbul is not for me," and they ask, "What would happen if you signed this statement regarding the bribery mechanism that needs to be revealed?"
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