Why did Yeniden Refah resign? Kasım Gülpınar, who was the center of attention, broke his silence.

Mayor of Şanlıurfa, Mehmet Kasım Gülpınar, has resigned from the Welfare Party. Gülpınar announced that he will continue independently and explained the behind-the-scenes of the resignation process on Habertürk TV.

Highlights from Kasım Gülpınar's statements;

"I had to leave the AK Party because things were not as they should be, because rules, laws, order, and those who should perform their duties did not. Despite clear evidence in front of you. I have always said that the leadership of the President is always separate.

"I LEFT THE BEST POSITIONS AND TOOK RISKS"

What the people say goes. Now, positions and titles are not important to me. I left the best positions and took risks. No one can say that they will always win 100% in democracy. I took all these risks, my current situation, my position was much better. Being the Mayor of Urfa is honorable and dignified, of course. Some mayors move to other municipalities, thank you, with zero debt. I could have said that too. The government sends money, you could have used that money efficiently. Now, we have faced a lot of trouble dealing with debts and receivables. We even received phone calls on the way here. We said that politics cannot be done against the will of the people.

"I RECEIVED OFFERS FROM CHP AS WELL"

Almost all parties made offers. We chose the Welfare Party. We also received an offer from the CHP. During my time as a member of parliament, I received an offer from the CHP. We never detailed these and turned them into material to promote ourselves. We made our choice during this process. Our local friend was the first intermediary. He contacted the central office, then the central office contacted us. I made my choice in favor of them. That is where my father started his political career, and it is a place where we feel close to politics. Saadet also said the same. We have some friends there too. There was a statement from Saadet saying 'come and be a candidate for us'. It could have been from other places as well.

TURGUT ÖZAL EXAMPLE

I refrain from using arrogant words. I have encountered so many things that I am confused about which one to respond to and which one not to. One of them said, 'his father was like that too, he was a candidate from the MSP and then switched to Anavatan Party'. MSP was a party that was dissolved in 1980. ANAP was established in 1980. Özal was a candidate from the MSP in 1977. My father was also a candidate from the MSP in Şanlıurfa. Both of them were not elected. Fate brought them together under the roof of the Anavatan Party. Both of them are nationalists.

"THEY STARTED ATTACKING ME FROM UNEXPECTED PLACES"

Now a miracle issue has emerged. They constantly criticize me. I thought that the Welfare Party would pursue a different politics. If you are here, that's great, there is no one worse than you when you step out of the door, no matter how much service you have. This politics needs to break free from narrow frames. People should first evaluate themselves and try to see their mistakes. They started attacking me from unexpected places. But did you question your own mistake? Did you ask where we went wrong? They constantly said 'Kasım Gülpınar should not think he has miracles'. In Sufism, some know who has miracles and some don't. Those who know also refrain. So why was this miracle exhibited in Urfa? Did the miracle of the Welfare Party come out there? We wanted to continue.

They say 'don't think you have miracles', how ridiculous! What miracles? You only won in Urfa as a metropolitan municipality. Since you showed miracles, why did you only show them in Urfa? No one has realized it since the beginning. I left the room on the day of the candidate introduction. Actually, I was quitting that day. The candidates had already been determined before us. We said, 'some of these candidates cannot be, we need to change some of them, I have friends to bring, you expect success from me, I have to take the best candidates there'.

"I WAS QUITTING THAT DAY, THEY BROUGHT ME BACK"

I came to the meeting in the morning, and I saw that our friend had come and said, 'I will go on stage'. This time we are trying to convince our fellow citizen. I am dealing with this during the candidate introduction meeting. I got in the car and said 'this won't work'. I was quitting that day, they brought me back. Is it my duty in a party for one candidate to convince another candidate? The process started. The same problems occurred during the election period. There were some shortcomings in some of our meetings, but no one was making an effort to identify a problem or solve it. I never called the party leader. Those who have duties must do what is necessary.

We come to the determination of the council, the candidates were not exactly as we wanted. This time, some people started fighting with me saying 'let our person be'. A new political understanding, a new movement in Urfa. It lasted a short time. Unfortunately, we have to act with a Machiavellian understanding that I don't like, that shouldn't be done.

"WHEN I ENCOUNTER THE SAME THING, I CANNOT FIGHT"

They complained about me to the party leader saying 'he doesn't put our people, he doesn't put the organization'. Since that's the case, we put forward the candidates. It was like forcing them to lose. The elections came. Hidden blackmail, threatening things. Troubles from other places. There were people in the mood of resigning. We tried to convince them frequently. I am coming to the point where the glass overflows.

I was served a notice, it was done locally. Congress decisions were made in 6 districts. Congratulations. If the party has made a congress decision for the metropolitan municipality of Urfa, whatever those 6 districts are, shouldn't the mayor of the metropolitan municipality at least ask for our opinion as a matter of courtesy? I said 'okay'. What struggle did I make in the AK Party? When I encounter the same thing in front of me, why should I deal with them when I am thinking about how to pay salaries? There were also such thoughts in the AK Party, and they were misleading the higher-ups in the same way. I don't engage in any bargaining, I don't ask for anything. When the congress was held, someone came and presented it as a notice saying 'we made a congress decision in 6 districts', it is not suitable for my understanding of politics to present it like a notice without consulting us. A similar reason for leaving the AK Party happened here. Then why did I leave the AK Party?

When the congress was held, someone came and presented it as a notice saying 'we made a congress decision in 6 districts', it is not suitable for my understanding of politics to present it like a notice without consulting us. A similar reason for leaving the AK Party happened here. Then why did I leave the AK Party? Mehmet Altınöz called me. I told Mr. Altınöz 'I will ask the people, I will get the opinion of the people'. Not just the AK Party, I also talked to others. After resigning, I received offers from 3 different parties. I won't mention those names, let it stay with us, maybe we will write a book about it in the future. After that, we did not meet with Mr. Altınöz. I occasionally meet with my AK Party friends. Our friendship continues.

"NEITHER AK PARTY OFFERED NOR DID I GO"

Honestly, neither the AK Party offered nor did I go. A fellow citizen of Urfa was the intermediary. As a municipality, we go to the Ministry and present our files. This issue came up during that meeting.

"SOME SAW IT AS UNFAIRNESS"

When they invited me, I was in the AK Party. If the AK Party had made me a candidate according to the rules, maybe these people would have voted for the AK Party, maybe they wouldn't have. Some saw what was done to me as unfairness. Leftists, rightists, everyone found a story of their own in our matter. Actually, I never do surveys. I don't get involved in those things. The people reached out to me. We have very serious communication channels. There was a parliamentary meeting. I said in the Parliament, 'I request 15 days from you.' There was an uproar in the 2-day process. I said I will do whatever the people say for 15 days. I also told Mehmet Bey that. Dozens of people call me, send me messages every day. I came to Istanbul, visited the Grand Bazaar. I have also passed Urfa. I sat with people from Bayburt and Kahramanmaraş."