I will not beg Erdoğan for İmamoğlu’s freedom: opposition leader Özel

Turkish opposition CHP leader Özel: I will not beg Erdoğan for İmamoğlu’s freedom, but I will continue rallies and tell people the truth. (Photo: CHP)

CHP leader Özgür Özel said that they “will not take a step back” from the struggle for Ekrem İmamoğlu’s freedom and early elections, and that they “will not beg” from President Tayyip Erdoğan. “What I’m supposed to do is to go from city to city, from rally to rally and tell the people the truth,” Özel said, flatly rejecting media allegations of a bargain between the government and Imamoğlu’s trial without arrest. “Can there be a bargain for democracy and freedom? Our presidential candidate is Ekrem İmamoğlu, whether he is in jail or not. Even though he does not have the right to withdraw from the candidacy anymore, the people want to see him as President.”
Özel made these statements to YetkinReport by phone on his way from Manisa to İstanbul to meet with İmamoğlu in Silivri Prison after canceling his weekend programs due to the latest wave of detentions against the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Continuing protest rallies

Here are Özgür Özel’s answers to YetkinReport questions:
– “We had scheduled a meeting with Ekrem Mayor for Wednesday, earlier. We were going to talk about the (April 16) earthquake. We were going to talk about Kanal İstanbul and the unproven claims. However, when new detentions were made on Saturday (April 26) morning, we found it necessary to make a face-to-face assessment of the situation, although we communicate through lawyers.
– (Rallies in Istanbul, Kanal Istanbul, May 1.) “We will have a busy program in Istanbul. On Tuesday, we will be at the hearing of Zafer Party leader Ümit Özdağ (who is in Silivri prison, too). On Wednesday, we will be at the hearing of our Youth Branch Chairman, Cem Aydın.
We had a rally in Saraçhane for a week (following the detention and arrest of İmamoğlu). Then we crossed the bridge and started to expand to Anatolia. After the Maltepe rally, Samsun, Yozgat, Ankara, and Mersin made up five. It will continue. On Wednesday, we will hold a rally in the Kanal İstanbul area, probably in the Bahçeşehir district.
– “May Day is on Thursday. If there are no last-minute changes, I will be in Kadıköy with unions DISK, KESK, TMMOB, and TTB. But we will also attend the Türk-İş rally as CHP. If the unions had decided on the Taksim Square, we would have said Taksim. May 1st is Labor and Solidarity Day. It would be wrong for a political party to steal a role from labor unions. That’s why we said Kadıköy.”

New detentions on Saturday mornings?

– “(On the latest detentions.) About two weeks ago, the pro-government media first said that 100 more people would be taken into custody, then it dropped to 50, and on Saturday morning, 53 detentions were ordered; maybe they are preparing another fifty.
– “The detention operations may now be carried out on Saturday mornings; the stock market is closed, with the hope that the markets will be less affected.
– “These detentions are the fourth phase of the İmamoğlu case. The first phase was to try to produce evidence with secret witnesses with the pseudonyms plane, spruce, and oak; it failed. The second phase was to find partisan witnesses from contractors who worked with the İstanbul Municipality during the AK Party era and are now involved in ministry tenders. It turned out they can only provide hearsay. The third phase was to coerce confessions or slander from existing defendants through pressure, threats, and blackmail. For example, they take them to the prosecutor instead of a medical examination. When the defendant asks for a lawyer, the prosecutor says, “You can’t talk comfortably in the presence of a lawyer, give the statement we want, and get out of here and go home.” Or things like “Ekrem will leave, but you can’t see your child for 10 years,” and so on. Prosecutors interrogate defendants without their lawyers, it’s unlawful.
– “There was one confessor so far, but he failed to provide any information that connects to Mayor Ekrem. In this fourth phase, they will try with another 50 people. They are going crazy as they can’t find any evidence.”

No begging for İmamoglu’s freedom”

– (On MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s statement that ‘Elections will be held on time’ and early election discussions) “When the MHP said something, a mild denial came from the AK Party under heavy provocation; otherwise, we know the heavy language they use.
– “We are on the same line as before about early elections. Türkiye should hold elections as soon as possible. We are also on the same line regarding İmamoğlu’s candidacy. Our presidential candidate is Ekrem İmamoğlu, whether he is inside or outside. Even İmamoğlu does not have the right to withdraw from the candidacy anymore. The people want to see him as the President. We are not taking a step back.
– (On the allegation of a plea bargain with the government.) We have been saying from the beginning that İmamoğlu should be tried without remand. Moreover, we demand that the hearings be broadcast live so everyone can see the truth.
– “There is no such bargain. I will not beg Erdoğan for early elections or İmamoğlu’s freedom. How can democracy and freedom be negotiated? I am doing my part. My part is to go from city to city, rally to rally, and tell the people the truth. We will continue to do so.”