Visit from İmamoğlu to Ahmet Türk! One said "I am embarrassed," while the other conveyed a message of "Brotherhood."

The Mayor of Istanbul and the President of the Union of Turkish Municipalities (TBB), Ekrem İmamoğlu, came to Mardin to visit the Metropolitan Mayor Ahmet Türk, who was suspended from duty by the Ministry of Interior on November 4. İmamoğlu and his accompanying delegation were welcomed at Mardin Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar Airport by Ahmet Türk, Members of Parliament Servet Mollaoğlu, Mahmut Tanal, and CHP Provincial Chairman Mahmut Duyan along with party members. The delegation then went to Ahmet Türk's house in the rural Atlı neighborhood of Derik district, where a closed-door meeting was held.

"THIS IS MY HOME, IT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE"

After the meeting, Ahmet Türk made statements, saying, "Our esteemed president came to Mardin to visit us. Their visit is a great honor for us. Of course, we are all closely following the developments in Turkey. There is no possibility for this country to achieve democracy with the trustee policy; it is not feasible. It would have been desirable for a peaceful, inclusive process to develop. A process where justice prevails and inequality is eliminated. We, who believe in democracy, are striving for this. I believe that democracy will come to this country very soon, our peoples will embrace each other, the policies of othering will be abandoned, and a system where justice and equality prevail will be established. I also want to express this; this is my home, it is open to everyone. It is a table of Halil İbrahim. I want to host and invite everyone who has peace in their hearts and who prioritizes brotherhood and embrace in this country," he said.

"A LACK OF COMPETENCE IS BEING EXPERIENCED"

Ekrem İmamoğlu also stated, "We are here with our feelings of get well soon for our valuable Ahmet President, his co-chair, and all the municipal managers of Mardin. Some of our esteemed members of the Union of Turkish Municipalities are also with us today. This was actually a personal visit. While we are discussing strengthening local governance and increasing local authorities, unfortunately, we have been experiencing a completely opposite process for many years. Local authorities have been restricted, and today in Turkey, local governments' budgets are being reduced to the level of merely paying salaries, which is a lack of competence. Instead of calculating or setting these goals to solve these problems and take steps towards recovery, unfortunately, while we are trying to take a strong step into the second century of our Republic on its 101st anniversary, we are discussing trustees from the very first days. We are talking about the usurpation and denial of the right to vote and be elected," he said.

"THE WELL-BEING OF OUR HOMELAND IS OUR PRIORITY"

İmamoğlu stated, "There is no east, west, south, or north of this country. In the heart of Istanbul, with an unofficial population of nearly 1 million 400 thousand, the district with the largest population in Turkey is meeting with a process of trusteeship. Following that, the city of ancient culture, where we take pride in the coexistence of everyone on this land, there may be a few cities in the top 5 that we could show as examples to the world, but in Mardin, you can find every belief, every ethnic origin, and every culture together. Instead of proudly discussing a stronger democracy and a stronger unity here, today we are really talking about trustees with great embarrassment as the President of the Union of Turkish Municipalities, and we are discussing our stance and resistance against trustees, and the existence of our people's right to vote and be elected. This is truly a sad situation, a situation that makes us bow our heads, a situation that embarrasses us. It is a situation that unfortunately causes our Republic of Turkey and our nation to lose credibility in the eyes of the world. In order to break free from all of this, we are in solidarity today. None of my colleagues here are here for the love of a chair. On the contrary, each of us prioritizes the well-being of this country, the unity and integrity of this homeland, the richness of this beautiful land, this paradise homeland, and the existence of a place where every individual can live freely and securely, where every baby and every child is safe. This is our priority. For this to happen, justice and democracy are very important issues. We are shoulder to shoulder for the establishment of this," he said.

"WE COULDN'T GET AN APPOINTMENT FROM A POLITICAL PARTY"

İmamoğlu continued, "After our solidarity and support statement made at the Union of Turkish Municipalities council, we visited the leaders of important political parties in our country. We received the same opinion from the leaders of 10 political parties regarding the unlawfulness, unreasonableness, and undemocratic nature of this practice, even though I may not agree with it, and even though I may have fought against it so that it would not be elected, that this practice in Esenyurt and other cities is unlawful, that unlawfulness is being implemented step by step, that the method of appointing trustees is unlawful, that the manner of appointing trustees is unlawful, and that the arrests made in Istanbul are also unlawful, and the disregard for the council is a separate unlawfulness. It is valuable that all 10 political parties defend the law and democracy with the same language. We could not get an appointment from one political party; it did not happen. But frankly, I feel that that political party has been hesitant on this issue. In that context, let me say this. Today, I see that a large portion of the ruling party and its members who implement this practice feel great embarrassment. I see that, apart from some fanatics who speak in that party, a large portion feels embarrassed. Therefore, I claim that perhaps there are only 20-25% of people in this country who support this process without fully grasping the issue due to political motives. When they understand this, they will never find a side that will exceed 5% or 10%. In this case, let us say this. Turkey is a region that is looked up to by the neighboring geography with its actions and what it will do. Therefore, we bear the responsibility that the strong, healing, and unifying steps we will take here will also be beneficial to our neighboring geography and the whole world.