10 metropolitan mayors from the CHP and members of the Nation's Alliance met with the Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in Ankara. The presidents answered the questions of the journalists after the meeting. IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu's allegations that there are employees affiliated with terrorism in İBB, "We want the criminal record of every employee we hire. If the Minister of Internal Affairs, who said 'There are 1 terrorists left in Turkey' a day ago and claims that there are '160 terrorists' in IMM one day later, does not take any action and does not go and arrest those 557 terrorists, I think that the Ministry of Interior should be investigated. I even think it was the Minister himself because he approached this process in this way. Even though he does not take action against a Minister of Interior, who carries such a risk and that I see putting security at such a risk, frankly, as a citizen, I invite the President to take office in this sense. These folks will not forgive this. It is shameful. Have them arrested immediately. Let them go and arrest them today. Let them write to us. Let's do the right thing. It's not my job to arrest. I'm not the intelligence agency. I am not the Minister of Justice to judge on this matter. The Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice should go and give an account to the President on this matter. I'm not the one to give an account."
CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu met with 10 metropolitan mayors belonging to his party at the CHP Headquarters in Çankaya Söğütözü. Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Ekrem İmamoğlu, Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş, Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Yılmaz Büyükersen, Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu, Mayor of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Muhittin Böcek, Muğla Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Osman Gürün, Mersin Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Vahap Seçer, Tekirdağ Metropolitan Mayor Kadir Albayrak and Hatay Metropolitan Mayor Lütfi Savaş took part in the delegation that held a meeting that lasted about 45 minutes with Kılıçdaroğlu. 10 metropolitan mayors, together with CHP Deputy Chairman Seyit Torun, stood in front of the cameras after the meeting.
ANSWERED THE QUESTIONS OF THE JOURNALISTS
The main agenda item of the meeting with journalists was the words of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, targeting İBB and Mayor İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu gave the following answers to questions from journalists:
There was a special inspection decision of the Ministry of Interior regarding IMM, on the grounds that it is “persons affiliated with and connected with terrorist organizations”. The Minister of Interior said this morning, “Aren't we going to fight terrorism in the city? If an action to be taken tomorrow, one day, takes place through these people, would they not get up and ask us, 'What do you do?' What will you say?
“AS CHP MUNICIPALITIES, WE HAVE NO PROBLEM OF BEING INSPECTED”
“First of all, on the 27th of December, on the anniversary of our Ata's arrival in Ankara, hosted by my Mayor Mansur, we are proud to be here with all our mayors. I hope this meeting will be beneficial. Let me say this about the statements of the Minister of Interior: First of all, inspection is natural. As CHP municipalities, we have no problem with being inspected. Our municipalities have been, are, and will be inspected. Our valuable, respected inspectors know how we welcome each inspector, how we host them with dignity, and how we offer them opportunities to carry out their duties in the most independent way. We have no problems in this regard. However, we are not going to teach him the fight of the Minister of Internal Affairs regarding terrorism from here. However, I would like to convey some points that went wrong, chronologically, technically.
“EVERY DATA OF THE MINISTER IS WRONG”
“The person sitting at the Ministry of Interior made a speech in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 12 December and claimed that there are exactly 557 terrorists in the IMM. In his speech the day before, he had said that the total number of terrorists in Turkey was 160. I would like to remind the Minister that every data is wrong: As of yesterday evening, exactly two weeks have passed. Two full weeks. It's been over 15 days. What has the Ministry of Internal Affairs done so far? What did we do? Frankly, we haven't heard anything about the things he did. I didn't hear anything. I did not receive any letters. As IMM, as the Mayor, we have started some actions. As IMM, taking this statement seriously, in accordance with state etiquette, with my consent on 15 December, I authorized an investigation and, if necessary, an investigation at the inspectorate. This is the document that I consented to the investigation on December 15th. On the same date, we wrote to the Ministry of Interior. We wrote to the ministry and the Minister himself, asking for information. What information did we want? We said to the ministry; let us know about it. Who are they? Submit the list. Let's do the right thing. In other words, if you have a determination about a terrorist, if it says terrorist, a ministry must take it seriously, right? Should it be taken seriously or not? Of course, the public will appreciate it over time. What did the Ministry do? He gave no answer to that.”
“MINISTRY ADVERTISEMENTS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS WITH RED POINTS”
“As of yesterday, the Sleeping Ministry woke up and tweeted. So, by tweeting, he announced that he had started an investigation permission process against us. “Frankly, this is the first time I've witnessed the government launch an investigation on Twitter by authorizing it. That's not how this inspection starts. Apps are not like that. So, 15 days later, on a Sunday evening, it occurred to him to start the process with such a tweet. I wonder why? Because Mr. President spoke on Sunday. He spoke at the advisory board in Istanbul. He gave messages about Istanbul. He gave messages full of politics. And from here, in this speech of the President, Mr. Minister emerged as usual in an effort to take a role. And he made such a statement. First of all, as the Mayor of a city of 16 million people, as a Mayor in Istanbul with 86 thousand employees, I condemn this statement. I condemn it with another dimension, let me say it. (pointing to the tweet of the Ministry of Interior) Look, here is a Ministry that advertises all terrorist organizations in bold and red letters. I condemn this form of explanation that is not in accordance with state etiquette and the step taken in this way.”
“IF THE TERRORIST IS, KEEP IT BY THE EAR, SHIP TO JANUARY”
“You are journalists who have been working for years. In other words, which one of you heard that a ministry started an inspection after the number was determined. In other words, you make a determination with a number, and after making this determination, you, as the Ministry, initiate an inspection about an institution. So you give numbers. You say they are terrorists. You are in judgment. Then you start an inspection. I would like to express frankly: What inspection? You are the ministry. If he is a terrorist, if you have been wrong about the terrorist, if it is clear, keep it by your ear, take it to jail. In other words, the implementation of such a process is mind-blowing. Let me state it first. You say, 'I have detected 557 terrorists'. The procedure of the inspection is obviously clear. But unfortunately, with these behaviors, we clearly see that politics and political mind, and even his own personal interests in politics, prevent the functioning of state etiquette and a ministry culture. Moreover, the procedures for a person's employment at IMM and its subsidiaries are clear. So one person applies to you. From these applications, you determine the person who is suitable for you. If you have decided, you will ask him for some documents. These documents also contain a criminal record. The person whose criminal record you want obtains that record from the Ministry of Justice. Then the Minister of Interior is opening an investigation in the wrong place. So the place that should open an investigation is the Ministry of Justice. Because we want the criminal record of every employee we hire. And if we get the clean paper, we start the onboarding process.”
“INvestigation SHOULD BE OPEN TO THE MINISTER”
"Even though he said '1' 160 day ago and announced that 557 terrorists were in the IMM the next day, as the Minister of Interior, if there is such a detection and he does not take any action and does not go and arrest those 557 terrorists, it is the place where another investigation should be opened. I think it's the Ministry of the Interior. I even think it was the Minister himself because he approached this process in this way. Frankly, I, as a citizen, invite the President to take office in this regard, even though he does not take action against a Minister of Interior, who carries such a risk, and whom I see as putting security at such a risk.”
“IN THE ISTANBUL ELECTIONS, THE FOLLOWING POCKET OFFICERS DECLARED TERRORISTS”
“I would also like to express this: The situation our country has come to is clear. In other words, the economy is in the middle, the increase, the increase, the decrease, the people who benefit from it are obvious. The damage people have suffered is obvious. While all these processes are happening, what are we doing? 'You don't see this. We are making an effort so that we can create another agenda and focus on something else from here. I would like to remind you that we ourselves, our friends and fellow travellers are often declared 'terrorists'. Frankly, I would like to state that this understanding, the understanding that divides people, does not contribute anything to our country and our cities. Here is something that all of you need to refresh your memory. The same people, the same institutions, the same personalities declared all ballot box officials 'terrorists' in the Istanbul election. Thousands of people. And what happened at the end? 'They stole it,' they said. They said 'thief'. They were declared 'terrorists'. Then they said; 'We did not say this legally, we said it politically.' What happened at the end of the day? Zero is available. Before the election was annulled, no investigation, no arrest, no determination was made about a single person out of thousands of people who were declared terrorists. People are laughing at this now.”
“I INVITE EVERYONE WHO TALKS ABOUT 16 MILLION TO BE CAREFUL”
“I would like to express with sadness that; we are people who have lived through the process in which the public responded twice in Istanbul and taught a great lesson in democracy after the mistake. In this sense, I invite you to be careful when talking about Istanbul, no matter who is speaking, when speaking in front of 16 million people, when talking about an institution with 86 thousand employees, no matter who speaks. Today, as Istanbul, we are an institution that has received nearly 1 million social assistance requests. 1 million. My dear mayor friends here; I guess we are in a position to call it millions. While we are going through such a current, economic and problematic process, I think that this attitude of the Ministry of Interior is an effort to shift the agenda and move the agenda to another place. We do not have any accounts that cannot be given. The person who will question our patriotism, our feelings for the nation, our feelings for our flag, our feelings for our past and our Republic is not yet born in this land. We are all doing our duty with patriotism. This is how I will answer your question.”
“THE LETTER TO BE SHARED; LETTER REQUESTED FROM PRISON IN FROM MY COMPETITOR"
You wrote a letter to President Erdogan. He touched on that subject yesterday. “He sends us letters without being embarrassed or bored,” he said. We ask for your evaluation….
“By God, today I said to our precious brother, our elder brother Yılmaz Büyükerşen: 'Brother, since when has it been a shame to write letters in these lands?' 'Pen friendship is good,' he said. We have a President who speaks with false information and is unfortunately deceived. I felt obliged to inform them, as I do not want the most valuable office of the great Republic of Turkey, the esteemed Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, to say wrong things. I am not writing a letter for the first time. In different institutions and organizations of the state, many ministers who are currently serving as ministers have letters in their offices. Because I like to write notes on history. I also like to warn when done wrong. Some I explain, some I do not. But I write letters. I'll put them on the official record as well. Because these are the issues that should remain in the memory of the state. If Mr. President is looking for a letter to be ashamed of, let me remind you: The letter requested from prison in favor of my opponent in the March 31 elections is a letter of shame. It is the letter to be ashamed of. My letter is not a letter to be ashamed of. It is a warning letter on behalf of 16 million people to warn them and prevent them from making false sentences. I will continue to write from now on. But frankly, I have a respectful and informative language, let me express that too. This is my answer to them.”
“MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR WHO DID NOT DO THEIR DUTIES…”
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, "We have determined that people who have been registered as police killers by the judiciary and who are registered to use Bylock are recruited and assigned to critical places." Did you reach such results in your inspection within the municipality? How will the inspection of the Ministry proceed?
“What a helpless situation now, isn't it? So if I say that, it can be considered normal. He says, 'It was determined that he was a police murderer, that he used Bylock.' Look, it says 'Done'. Am I the intelligence agency, for God's sake? So am I the judicial institution? In other words, the minister has identified these, is sitting on the spot, and saying these things in front of the press, are those people working in the Istanbul Municipality right now? I swear that he should resign from his post as Minister of the Interior immediately. Resign immediately. A Minister of Internal Affairs who did not do his duty then. Let him do his duty, arrest them, or answer the letter I wrote 15 days ago. Why is he saying this in front of the press? There is a letter I wrote to him 15 days ago, there is a letter. So it's not a letter to be ashamed of. I'm asking him. I say; 'If there are people you identify, let us know. Let's do what's necessary.' Do you know what is the mind that has not disclosed this to us for 15 days and has announced it on the press today? Just like this, they will say, 'We didn't say it legally, we said it politically' tomorrow the next day. But these folks will not forgive it. It is shameful. Have them arrested immediately. Let them go and arrest them today. Let them write to us. Let's do the right thing. It's not my job to arrest. I'm not the intelligence agency. I am not the Minister of Justice to judge on this matter. Let the Minister of Interior, Minister of Justice, let them sit down and give an account to the President on this matter. I'm not the one to give an account."
THANKS TO KILIÇDAROĞLU FOR SUPPORT
There was a social media post by CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on the subject after the inspection decision. “Person in the palace, something has happened to you these days. Are you laying the groundwork for something in Istanbul? How did you read this? What are you waiting for? What does this indicate?
“Our Chairman is very clever, frankly, he often sends messages on Twitter or some valuable speeches that remind him of his duty. I am not the one to interpret this, Mr. President. I think he should interpret it quickly and determine his process accordingly. I would like to thank our President for his support.”
“PUBLIC OPINION IS INTERESTED WITH A MANAGEMENT LOOKING TO DIVIDE PEOPLE”
Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu made a statement saying, “Mr Yavaş and İmamoğlu's names are being brought forward for the presidency, but if we leave these cities to the AK Party, we cannot tell our nation.” Then you made a statement, “Every mayor wants to rule Istanbul. However, the decisions may change according to the circumstances,” you said. What exactly did you mean and what are the terms?
“Concentrate on exactly what we just said. These are empty topics. Focus on exactly what we just said. The business of the public is now dealing with and facing an administration that aims to divide and tear people apart, to declare people on the street as terrorists. This is the first on the agenda. Secondly, it is our agenda to give up; the poverty of the country, the fact that the country is in great distress. Our Chairman's agenda with us is 'What do you do, what do you do, find methods and methods that will support them with self-sacrifice in order to get this country out of this poor process and get through these difficult days.' This is our agenda. Regarding the questions you asked; Believe me, there is not a single sentence in our minds, in our minds, or on our agenda.”
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