IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlumet with members of Of-Hayrat Culture and Solidarity Association at dinner. Saying, “Man's greatest capital is the friendships and reputation he has accumulated,” İmamoğlu said, “You know me. I haven't lowered my level, nor have I lowered it so much that I would become ugly with people, structures and groups trying to be ugly with me here. My only concern is that everyone is well. At the end of the day, if this fight is victorious, be sure that even their children will be happy. They will walk with their heads held high in this society. God is my witness, I have not put hatred and grudge into my body in my life. I am a fighter. I never give up. But I did not have a relationship with grudge and hatred. "I think our country needs this feeling," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) President Ekrem İmamoğlumet with members of Of-Hayrat Culture and Solidarity Association at dinner. The meeting on January 17 took place at the headquarters of the association in Fatih. Expressing his wishes for success to Emrullah Tellioğlu and his team, who won the 15th Elective Ordinary Congress of the Association, which was held on January 26, and was elected President for the second time, İmamoğlu made a speech after the dinner. Saying, “Man's greatest capital is the friendships and reputation he has accumulated,” İmamoğlu said, “I always say; If I do not embarrass my friends and people who know me with what I do, the family issue is always in the first place, but I definitely know a person who knows me, and I am very happy if the following is in his heart while serving his state and nation today: 'Well, good luck. We know. We are also proud.' I get incredible pleasure from it,” he said. Emphasizing that the IMM Presidency is a very important responsibility, İmamoğlu said, “I really owe a lot to our people and our nation, who helped me carry this responsibility. People who choose choose the chosen person so that he can do his duty well, not just because he is a relative. With this perspective, I try to do my duty.”
“IF OUR FIGHT IS VITAL, EVEN THEIR CHILDREN WILL BE HAPPY”
“I say it everywhere: Today, I am giving a strong struggle for the children, for the children, for the grandchildren of even those who wrong this feeling and knowledge of our country,” said İmamoğlu, and said: “Because they can make mistakes. Its place is judgment. Judge him tomorrow. Justice does what it takes. But at the end of the day, if this fight is victorious, be sure that even their children will be happy. They will walk with their heads held high in this society. Believe me, I say this from my heart. God is my witness, in my life I have not put hatred and grudge into my body. I hope you never get in. I'm not in my mood at all. I am a fighter. I never give up. But I did not have a relationship with grudge and hatred. Not at all. Sometimes I can do this: I can feel sorry for people who have done wrong. Sometimes I can set them up, so I can put some distance. This is my right, I think to put that reserve. But grudge and hatred, I've never heard of. I think our country needs this feeling. In other words, it is very important to bring peace to this country without hating what has been done today, without using the language of hatred, without holding grudges, by bringing our country to a fair ground, a fair environment, and by entrusting the responsible party or the party that produced the problem, the institutions, to the independent judiciary, if any."
AN IRANIAN WOMAN SHARED THE LETTER HE GIVED HIM IN KONYA
Pointing out that the mayors of some European cities where he met said that the strengthening of Turkish democracy would also provide an improvement for them, İmamoğlu shared a memory he had during his recent visit to Konya with his fellow countrymen: “We visited the tomb of Mevlana in Konya. Crowded. People came and heard. We went in, it's crowded again. So we can't travel properly. We are trying to stand out from the crowd. I was only able to spend 10-15 minutes inside. We had to take a tour like this again and came to the door. I'm wearing my shoes. A young lady in the crowd handed me a piece of paper. 'Please read,' he said in English. So I put the paper in my pocket. Then I read it in the evening. I say the summary: 'I am Iranian. I am a woman. Brave women of Iran expect a lot from you. You are powerful people. Please do something for us. Save us.' A young Iranian woman. I keep it as a memento. This is amazing stuff. We are so responsible. This country has such a responsibility.”
“I HEAR SIMILAR WORDS FROM THE MANAGERS OF B40 MEMBER CITIES”
Stating that he heard similar words from the local administrators of the Balkan Cities Network (B2021), which he was the founding chairman of in November 25, which started with 60 cities and has reached 40 cities today, İmamoğlu said, “We are in such an influential geography. In that respect, being a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, living in this ancient land, especially in Istanbul, means being an individual with a different sense of responsibility. I am your brother, your fellow countryman, who acts with this feeling. And I think I got this feeling from Atatürk as a legacy that needs to be protected and strengthened. In this respect, every child of ours should feel this, every child of this nation should feel it, my Kurdish citizen, my Alevi citizen, my Armenian citizen and my Greek citizen should feel this feeling in these lands. And it should live in a presence where there is no discrimination. We have to have this. We can have this. In this age, we have many memories and feelings of the past that will make it easier and mature. Believe me, it's not even time to talk about bad things. I hope that the awareness of acting in this way will pass to all political parties, political individuals and individuals and there will be a service race in the country.
“86 PERCENT OF YOUTH SAY 'I CANNOT GET A JOB IN THIS COUNTRY WITHOUT I KNOW'”
Emphasizing the importance of being a country where the deserving is successful and trust in law is established, instead of segregation and polarization, İmamoğlu gave examples from some of the studies conducted by the Istanbul Planning Agency. “In our research on young people in Istanbul, 86 percent believe that 'I cannot get a job in this country without someone I know'. Look, I'm not saying 46-56 percent; 86 percent. If we make this young person say this, we have a malfunction that we need to fix. For example, close to 75 percent of our citizens do not believe that justice and the judiciary are independent. We need to fix these. We cannot reduce inflation without correcting these. We cannot increase the per capita national income without correcting these," he said. Emphasizing that Turkey has the natural and human resources to reverse this picture, İmamoğlu said, “It only wants one thing: Our existing blessings require some effort. When we add that effort, when we add a conscious effort, we have the chance to become a society with incredible added value and income.”
YOU KNOW ME
"I wanted you to hear both the summary of this process and its reflection on my mood," said İmamoğlu and said:
“You would appreciate that you know me. I have not lowered my level, nor have I lowered it so much that I become ugly with people, structures and groups that try to be ugly with me here. My only concern is that everyone is well. And in this regard, I feel an endless struggle power in my heart. I don't know what that eternity is like. God knows it. I feel so. I have such a feeling. It will end well. We are making good contributions to our city. You can be sure of that. We look at the city vault like the light of our eyes. We are making a very special effort to transfer the blessings of this city to the services of this city. Believe me, abundance has come to the coffers of this city. Despite all the difficulties, the blessing has come and it will be even more."
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