Answering the questions of journalists Gürkan Zengin and Yıldız Yazıcıoğlu in the "Election Special" program with Remziye Demirkol on KRT TV, DEVA Party Chairman Ali Babacan said: “This election is very, very valuable for us. That's right, we have candidates in all 81 provinces. We have mayoral candidates in most places. We have council members almost everywhere. We are currently a political party participating in elections across Türkiye. Some of our candidates are candidates from within our organization, some are from outside; But the number of candidates from within our organization is higher. We truly appear before our citizens with a bright and clean team and staff.”
“We announced our metropolitan candidate in Istanbul; party sözcüMuseum İdris Şahin. He is a lawyer who is the president of the Çankırı bar association. Plus, we have 39 district mayor candidates in 39 districts in Istanbul. Our own provincial president in Izmir was Serap Karaosmanoğlu, who is one of the well-known families of Izmir; Our own provincial president became a mayoral candidate in the metropolitan city. But we have mayoral candidates in thirty of the remaining thirty districts in Izmir.”
“WE HAVE MUNICIPAL CANDIDATES IN ALL DISTRICTS OF ANKARA”
“As you know, Mr. Mümtaz, Mümtaz Akıncı was a member of the Constitutional Court in Ankara. He served as the president of the bar association in Afyon for five terms. He is a very good lawyer; He presided over the Court of Disputes. And he served in the Constitutional Court for 12 years as one of the members who demonstrated the strongest stance in the most sensitive decisions of the Constitutional Court, especially on individual rights. Later he joined our party. Now Mümtaz Bey is our candidate from Ankara metropolitan city. But with him, we have mayoral candidates in all districts of Ankara.”
“THERE IS NOTHING THAT HE CANNOT DO WITH ONE SIGNATURE SINCE 2018”
“There is nothing he cannot do with a single signature since 2018. Let's not forget that he is currently also the President of the Central Bank. Central Bank Presidents come and go. Before the elections, he said, 'As long as I am in charge, the interest rate will not increase, it will decrease further.' After the elections, interest rates increased 8 times in 8 months. Can you imagine that interest rates are increasing despite Erdoğan? Can something like that happen?"
“THERE ARE PEOPLE WITH AUTHORITARIAN TENDENCIES WITHIN THE PARTIES”
“There are people with authoritarian tendencies within the parties. In other words, there are tendencies such as, if I get the authority to govern the country, they have been sticking to the nation so far, I will take that stick from their hands, and I will shake the stick to others. So, frankly, we were afraid of them. We feared that all these tendencies might become dominant in the administration of the country. That's why we went with these written documents.”
“OUR CURRENT GOAL IS TO ESTABLISH A NEW OPPOSITION GROUP IN THE PARLIAMENT”
“Our current goal and effort is to establish a new opposition group in the parliament. We currently have 15 members of parliament. But after the elections, it seems very likely that this number will rise above twenty through participation or strategic collaborations. We have many meetings; Therefore, it is very important that the current Felicity and Future group is in the parliament; "They represent a political line and we respect that line."
“THEY SHOULD ENSURE THAT TURKSTAT WORKS INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPARENT, BUT THEY DID NOT.”
“I know Mr. Şimşek's intentions are good. I am also aware of your effort. But intention and individual effort are never enough. Now, this new economic management; Mr. Şimşek and his team and other colleagues had to immediately ensure that TURKSTAT operates independently and transparently. They did not do this. “I called on them many times.”
“OK, WE UNDERSTAND YOUR IDENTITY, WHAT WILL YOU POST FOR THIS COUNTRY?”
“When political parties define themselves, they say 'I am a centre-right party.' 'I am the conservative party, I am the nationalist party.' Ok, we understand your identity, what will you reveal for this country? When you say 'What is your plan and project for the future of this country, tell me about it', most of the time you see a huge gap. For the first time in Turkey, a political party aspires to govern this country in such a wide area with very deep preparations. We don't leave anything to words. Agriculture has the deepest preparation. Disaster management has the most detailed preparation.”
“THE RISE OF AUTHORITARIAN TENDENCIES IS VALID IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE.”
“The tendency towards authoritarianism, authoritarianism, the downward pressure of democracy and the rise of populist-authoritarian tendencies are valid not in Turkey but in many parts of the world, especially in Europe. You see today, the situation is the same in Mexico and Argentina. You go to the other side, it's the same in South Korea and other Asian countries. Therefore, there are currently many leaders who came to power with authoritarian, lawless, populist discourses; There are many political parties that behave this way. There are many of these in Europe right next to us. They are inspired by this. Unfortunately, we saw it at the Table of Six, and we saw it at parties beyond the Table of Six.”
“THE MINDSET RUNNING THE COUNTRY MUST BE A MINDSET THAT RESPECTS THE LAW”
“He takes office saying, 'I swear to abide by the Constitution,' but he does not implement the article of the Constitution. So, this is very important here: the mentality that governs the country must be one that truly respects the law. Democracy is not just about elections. Elections are very important in democracy, but those elected must govern the country within the law. You may say, 'I put 50+1 in my pocket, I can do whatever comes to my mind, I don't know the law.' Then its name is not democracy.”
“CIVIL SOCIETY LEFT THERE NO SUCH THING AS CIVIL INITIATIVE”
“Civil society has left no such thing as civil initiative. He keeps a person in prison, what does he say? 'As long as I'm in power, he can't get out, he's in prison,' he says. It keeps one person locked up and intimidates the entire civil society. "It keeps one person in, intimidates the entire business world."
“IT INPRESSES AND SILENCES LARGE SECTIONS THROUGH ONE PERSON”
“What do people think? People are afraid, saying, 'I shouldn't break things off with Mr. Erdoğan, if he gets obsessed with me, I'll be in a terrible situation, he'll get me locked up and I won't be able to get out again.' Therefore, it is not a simple thing that people are still in prison unjustly, despite the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the ECHR. It's the same tragedy even if it's one person, it's the same thing if it's ten people or a hundred people. Because he intimidates and silences large segments of people through one person.”
“I SAY, 'OUR DEMOCRACY IS SICK, BUT IT IS NOT DEAD'”
“Look at the state of the countries starting from Russia and towards the east. Look at the situation these Asiatic republics are in. Human rights are zero. The most important opposition leader in Russia today, there was no news from him for a while, then news came that he had died. It is not clear where in Russia it is located. They did not deliver his body to his family, and they cannot. God bless Turkey's democracy, I always say it when asked by the international press: 'Our democracy is sick, but it is not dead'."
“IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO REDUCE INFLATION BY PRINTING MONEY FOR FREE”
“Unfortunately, Türkiye has now entered a period of high inflation. It is not possible to reduce inflation in this country with the current government's way of doing business, by having the Central Bank do business under instructions, and by printing money for free. Therefore, inflation will continue to remain high in the country. Of course, let's not forget what inflation is. "We always act from TURKSTAT inflation, salaries always increase according to TURKSTAT inflation, but the people have their own inflation."
