Speaking at his party’s group meeting, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel harshly criticized the government following the normalization discussions that started after the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and warned the government by saying, “If this continues, the nation will demand early elections and no one can stand in front of it.”
In his speech at the CHP parliamentary group meeting on June 4, Özel responded to Erdoğan’s reminder of “MHP’s red lines” regarding the discussions on normalization in politics and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli’s harsh words against Özel. Stating that the main opposition party opposed the appointment of trustees to Hakkari Municipality, Özel called on the government and warned of “early elections”.
“If someone draws a line saying ‘I have red lines’ and hides behind that line and considers it a red line to disobey the constitution, not to recognize the Constitutional Court, to seize the will of the people with trustee policies, to usurp meetings and demonstrations, and to further oppress ignored segments of society, neither détente nor normalization can be talked about there,” Özel said.
Early election warning
“If someone is going to market disobeying the constitution as a national attitude, then this nation will not give you the credit it gave to normalization,” Özel said, pointing to early elections with the words “if this continues, the nation will demand early elections, no one can stand in front of it, that much is clear.”
“I will repeat what I did on the evening of March 31st. They say 2028, I will not use March 31st as an excuse and say let’s go to the ballot box right away. But at this rate, if the nation demands early elections, no one can stand in front of it, that much is clear. If the nation makes its voice heard to those who do not hear it, shows itself to those who do not see it, those who read the coming period of democratization, normalization and protecting the victims, making the pensioners smile, protecting the minimum wage earners will read it, and those who do not read it will read the letter they did not read in the general elections,” he said.
He said:
“Now Turkey is at a crossroads. A decision will be made. We owe it to ourselves to fulfill the duty we received from the nation. However, if someone draws a line saying “I have red lines” and hides behind that line and considers it a red line to disobey the constitution, not to recognize the constitutional court, to seize the will of the people with trustee policies, to usurp assembly and demonstration marches, to further oppress ignored segments of society, neither détente nor normalization can be talked about there.
If Vera’s father cannot take her by the hand and take her to school, if our brothers and sisters who were imprisoned on behalf of all of us during the Gezi protests are still being held there unjustly, if a large number of sick prisoners and convicts are still in prison, and if some people are going to market non-compliance with the constitution as a national attitude, then this nation will not give you the credit it gave to normalization.
They cannot insult their chairman and make him fight with us because someone does not want it, because criminal types are afraid of normalization. I will not back down from this struggle for rights just because someone doesn’t want it, I will negotiate with my interlocutor. If I don’t get a result, I will do whatever I have to do.
But those who cannot keep up with this self-confident politics, those who do not want to see that the CHP has become the first party after 47 years, those who do not see that the CHP has been the first party in all the surveys conducted for 3 months (the lowest scale is 32 33 the highest scale is 36 37), those who do not see that the AK Party has been below 30 since the election (the highest is 28, 26 below), those who do not have the belief that what this self-confident politics has brought to the party is to make Atatürk’s party come to power again after 100 years, to make the CHP’s party come to power again.
Our path is a self-confident, courageous, determined, democratic path that knows where it is heading. We take our strength from the Turkish alliance that supported us on March 31st and from our founder who said that one of my two great works is the Republic of Turkey and the other is the CHP. We will continue this path with hope, determination and courage, together with MPs, PM members, provincial and district heads of the party, women and young people, whose number increases by 8,000-10,000 every week.
I have only one goal. I will repeat what I did on the evening of March 31st. They say 2028, I will not use March 31st as an excuse and say let’s go to the polls immediately. But at this rate, if the nation demands early elections, no one can stand in front of it, that much is clear.
If the nation makes its voice heard by those who do not hear it, shows itself to those who do not see it, those who read the coming period of democratization, normalization and protecting the victims, making the pensioners smile, protecting the minimum wage earners will read it, and those who do not read it will read the letter they did not read in the general elections.”