02.12.2025 14:11
The co-chair of the DEM Party, Tuncer Bakırhan, responded to the words of CHP leader Özel during his party's group meeting: "I invite everyone not to fall into Stockholm Syndrome, not to fall in love with the executioner we barely escaped from yesterday." Bakırhan stated, "No one should approach this memory with cheap metaphors. Everyone should know very well that if we open the 'executioner's ledger,' you will all be found indebted."
CHP General Chairman Özgür Özel made striking statements on the day of the presidential election at the CHP's 39th Ordinary Congress.
ÖZEL: I INVITE YOU NOT TO FALL IN LOVE WITH OUR EXECUTOR
Özel stated, "I invite everyone to remember the democratic nature of those who say 'This party should be closed, and if it is not closed, the Constitutional Court should be closed' whenever they feel like it. I invite you not to fall into a Stockholm Syndrome, not to fall in love with the executioner we barely escaped from yesterday. As the squares shout without stopping; there is no salvation alone, either together or none of us."
BAKIRHAN: YOU WILL ALL BE IN DEBT
A response to Özel's words also came from Tuncer Bakırhan, Co-Chair of the DEM Party. Speaking at his party's group meeting, Bakırhan said, "We know the executioner very well. We know the executioners very well from our cemeteries, our unsolved murders, and the prisons we resisted. No one should approach this memory with cheap metaphors. Everyone should know very well that if we open the 'executioner’s ledger,' you will all be in debt."
“IS THIS RESPECTING THE KURDISH PEOPLE, MR. ÖZEL?”
Bakırhan continued his remarks as follows; "While the word should be constructed for a solution, it is political irresponsibility to resort to cheap polemics at this very moment when we should be discussing the solution. Is this respecting the Kurdish people, Mr. Özel? If the main opposition party aims to become the center of attraction for those against the process, it makes a big mistake. If it thinks of the strategy 'I will walk to power from here,' it will lose greatly."
THE FIRST RESPONSE CAME FROM HATIMOĞULLARI
The first response to Özel's "Executioner" statement came from Tülay Hatimoğulları, Co-Chair of the DEM Party. In a statement made on the party's official X account on behalf of Hatimoğulları, it was stated, "To fall in love with your executioner or to use the metaphor of Stockholm syndrome for us is, at the very least, a mental lapse. As the DEM Party, we are representatives of a revolutionary, socialist, and patriotic tradition that has resisted all oppressions tirelessly and without getting weary throughout history. We also know the executioner very well..."