29.03.2025 14:20
At the "Freedom Rally for Our Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu," organized to protest the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, CHP leader Özgür Özel is making a statement.
After the arrest and removal from office of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP is holding a rally in Maltepe.
Speaking here, Özgür Özel said, "The millions who ran to Saraçhane showed us this. We have left behind anxiety, fear, and fatigue at home. We are on the streets, we are in the squares. Today, there are rallies in the subways, Marmaray stations, and piers. 2,000 students are protesting at the station," he said.
MANSUR YAVAŞ: WE ARE ONE IN LOVE FOR THE HOMELAND
ABB President Mansur Yavaş, who spoke at the rally, said:
"We may think differently, but we are one in love for the homeland. We are the rightful owners of this land, the children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the republic. One side of us is leftist, one side is nationalist in favor of the people, one side is in favor of Atatürk's science and enlightenment, and one side is in favor of democratic justice. We are the essence of this land, and we will no longer surrender this country to darkness. There is a reason for our gathering here today because consciences are aching, the scales of justice are broken, the eyes of the law are no longer blind; they have opened their eyes and are deciding according to whom they want to see.
We have gathered here to raise our voices against injustices and lawlessness. The latest example of this is Ekrem İmamoğlu. Greetings to our Mayor Ekrem from the hundreds of thousands gathered here. A brother of ours who won Istanbul with the votes of the people and has no other crime than serving the nation is being silenced unlawfully, without evidence, and without rules. Because the will of the people has become stronger than some wills. Because the nation said 'enough,' it said 'Everything will be beautiful.' Are you aware that not just a mayor, but a hope is being punished? This is no longer a case of one person; it is the case of the people. If the scales of justice lean this much, one day we may find all honest people in this country in prison. But we will not be silent because we know. An injustice done to one person is a threat directed at the entire society, and in the face of that threat, the power of the people is the greatest shield.
"WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO SUPPRESS IS A GENERATION'S DREAM OF FREEDOM"
Our citizens who came here from all over Turkey say that hope does not rise with the morning sun in this country anymore. Our people wake up not to go to work but to the struggle for survival. Mothers going to the market look not at price tags but into their children's eyes. A retiree can no longer calculate how to make ends meet because that month has long been over, and their debts have surpassed months. After the unlawful actions against our Mayor Ekrem, it was the youth who first took to the streets. The first demand for justice and democracy came from the youth, whose hopes are being taken away and whose dreams are being destroyed. We all crossed that bridge of youth. We all stood against injustices and lawlessness in our time. We went down to the squares when necessary, just like you did, holding Turkish flags, claiming our homeland and our future. Our leader was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, just like today's youth. I salute all our young people who civilly express their constitutional and democratic demands from here. You are doing the right thing; you are not remaining silent against injustice; you are gathering around Atatürk. We are by your side in this struggle. The state should ensure the safety of these children instead of posing a risk with its police.
If justice is shattered in this country, investors will flee, the youth will flee, and hope will flee. The foundation of the economy is the feeling of trust. If one morning the law changes, if a mayor is subjected to extrajudicial execution, if young people are detained for expressing their thoughts, and even arrested, then no exchange rate will hold, no tradesman will survive, and no farmer will look at their land with hope. Every injustice imposed on the shoulders of the nation also turns into an increase in their wallets. Because if the law collapses, the economy collapses too. If justice is destroyed, bread shrinks. Of course, this order will change. This country has a hope; it is our youth who wait at the school gate, dream in the dormitory at night, and meet the detention vehicle in the morning. Today, those young people are being silenced, but they do not know that the youth of this nation learned courage, not fear, from Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. What they are trying to suppress is actually a generation's dream and demand for freedom. A country that tries to silence its youth with prisons has no future. Youth will not be silent.
"THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE THE HOME OF 85 MILLION"
Enough is enough; this country should be the home of 85 million, not of one person or a group. This country should be entrusted to those who say, 'If you are not with me, you are my enemy,' but to those who say, 'If you are not here, we are one short.' A mother's prayer, the sweat of a worker, and a child's future will be placed in the ballot box, and we will bring that ballot box together. That ballot box will come as the entire opposition. From now on, no group that feels itself to be opposition has the luxury to separate by making excuses like the stem of a pear or the seed of a grape. We must come together. We will either be together, or we will lose together. On the day of Ekrem's trial, we made a speech on top of a bus. I said there: Silivri should be closed. It has now become a symbol of the confiscation of freedoms in this country. Instead of boasting about prisons, we should boast about closing them. We demand the release of all elected officials, starting with Ekrem, together with the youth.
A LETTER FROM İMAMOĞLU
CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik read İmamoğlu's message:
I am not the one who has to clear my name in this fabricated case. Erdoğan has to clear his name. He must prove that the cases opened to close the nurseries from the foolish case are not a dirty operation against me. With his moves far from bravery, he is embarrassing the citizens who love him. We have seen before that those who thought the power of the state was their own power and who saw their will as superior to the will of the nation tried to forcefully create a direction. Turkey has proven time and again that the will of the people is the one that determines the direction. You have thwarted the government's plans. You have claimed your future and your freedom. As our founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said; you all said, 'freedom is my character.' Now we are making a very strong start.
"THE WALLS OF FEAR HAVE BEEN BROKEN"
The continuation of İmamoğlu's letter was presented by showing a video of İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu said:
The walls of fear have been broken; the youth and women are standing. When I set out on this path, I made a promise. I said I would not wrong anyone, nor would I let anyone wrong me. I will keep my promise; I will not take a step back. I entrust myself first to God and then to the nation. The nation is great. The nation is greater than all powers.
İMAMOĞLU WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MALTEPE
İmamoğlu's video created with artificial intelligence was broadcast at the rally in Maltepe. In the video, İmamoğlu said:
"I cannot be with you right now because I am imprisoned in Silivri, but my heart and soul are with you. I have officially become a presidential candidate. I thank everyone who has contributed and supported, especially our General Chairman Özgür Özel.```html
First, with my faith in God and my prayers, and then with my commitment to my nation and determination to serve, I embark on this journey.
"THE NATION HAS SHOWN THAT IT IS THE OWNER OF THE STATE"
By drawing our strength from the nation, we will experience a historic period with all opposition in this determined, arduous, and long journey. We will defeat dishonesty with courage. I am not seeking a position but am committed to a long, challenging struggle filled with traps.
I know very well what kind of schemes a handful of people's political ambitions can concoct. I am not afraid at all; our esteemed nation has united. The nation has shown that it is the owner of the state. I will never take a step back. I will compete honestly and bravely.
I entrust myself first to God and then to the nation. I shout as loud as I can from the depths of my boundless love for my homeland. The nation is greater than all powers.
DİLEK İMAMOĞLU: WE ARE A FAMILY OF 86 MILLION
Dilek İmamoğlu, the wife of CHP's presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, attended the "Freedom Rally for Our Presidential Candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu" held at Maltepe Coast Event Area.
Speaking at the rally, Dilek İmamoğlu said:
"I want to say what I will say at the end at the beginning, 'this is just the beginning, the struggle continues.' Not for Ekrem, not for ourselves, but for our children, the struggle continues for Turkey.
Tomorrow we will wake up together to a holiday morning. During holidays, we set aside our differences and share our beautiful wishes. We look at life from the bright side. But tomorrow, the holiday of millions of families will be overshadowed by poverty, injustice, and despair. The holiday joy of those who cannot give their children or grandchildren pocket money due to the struggle for survival, those who have lost their loved ones in earthquakes and fires due to negligence, those who seek justice and cannot find it, those whose rights have been violated, and those who are unjustly detained will be incomplete.
Our family will also enter this holiday away from their father. My daughter and my sons will not be able to be next to their father, they will not be among you. Ekrem will not be able to hug his loved ones. And of course, all team members and families who have suffered injustice and unlawfulness alongside Ekrem will also experience this holiday joy incompletely. Of course, we are very sad, of course, our hearts are burning. But we will never lose our faith in the beautiful days to come. We must share each other's pain, give each other hope and courage. Because we are a large family of 86 million.
The real skill is to fight for everyone without separating anyone, to try to earn everyone's love and respect. Ekrem has done politics with this understanding. He managed this city with an approach that sees everyone as equal, without separating anyone. And the people of Istanbul know that he managed it very well.
"WHO CAN CHAIN THE NATION"
Ekrem walks peacefully in all the streets, markets, and bazaars of Istanbul. Not only in Istanbul but all over Turkey, he walks with humility from head to toe, without falling into any arrogance in the face of the great interest and love shown to him. This is why they are punishing Ekrem. They are punishing him because they are powerless against the love of the nation for him. They know they can never enter the hearts of the nation as much as Ekrem, and that is why they are punishing him. Do whatever you want, punishment will not work on Ekrem. I ask you, which wall can be an obstacle to love? Which iron bars can imprison the truth? Who can chain the nation?
Ekrem's arrest has touched the blood of the youth more than anyone else. Young people felt the most that standing up for justice and democracy means standing up for the future of this country. That is why they come together, expressing their reactions democratically. And now they are here. Those who try to portray these valuable young people, these beautiful children, as criminals, those who think there is even the slightest evil in these young people should look closely at this square. These young people are the first to rush to help in earthquakes and forest fires without waiting for any orders from anyone. Just like all the youth of our country. All the children and youth of this country are our children. All mothers know this and feel this way. You cannot easily declare our children guilty for political purposes and put them behind bars. You cannot subject our children, who protest against injustice and seek their rights, to various tortures and injustices. Turkey cannot be a country that inflicts pain on its own children through its own children, and it will not be.
There is no party or ideology against standing up to injustice and unfairness. This is a matter of conscience. You cannot protect our power with methods that do not fit the conscience of mothers and that burn the hearts of mothers. You will be defeated because you ignore this truth, because you have taken the curse of mothers. You will be defeated by the pure hearts and prayers of good people. A handful of people will be defeated, and we will win our unity and brotherhood as a nation. A handful of people will be defeated, and we will achieve peace and prosperity as a nation. This country will be saved by beauty, compassion, and love. I know you share the same feelings and hopes as I do. You empower me with your presence. I want to repeat now, justice cannot be banned, conscience cannot be imprisoned. I am glad you are here, I am glad we are together. We will struggle together on the path of this country. Either all together, or none of us.
"MY SON SERVES HIS STATE"
Havva İmamoğlu, the mother of Ekrem İmamoğlu, said, "Everything will be very beautiful. My son serves his state, he loves all his people. The people love him. I thank him. My son is a hardworking son," and then greeted those present.
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