Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu addressed the public from Marmara Prison and through his lawyer shared his first letter to the nation after being detained in a major operation by the Turkish police.
In a lengthy message, Imamoglu stated that the democratic revolution took place on March 23.
“Regardless of all the misery experienced and inflicted, the disreputable decisions in the judiciary because of which we all hung our heads, the state of our economy in decline, the destruction of our international reputation, a democratic revolution took place and on March 23 the presidential candidate was elected by the people, with the votes of all citizens and the Republican People’s Party. This is a wonderful situation. Hope is great. He made a handful of bad people miserable,” said Imamoglu.
He emphasized that the ruling party’s fears have increased.
“They will be afraid, let them be afraid. Because we, together with our nation, represent the Turkish alliance. We represent the noble values of the Republic of Turkey and democracy. We represent the future, justice, the rule of law, equality, unity and solidarity. We represent the values of the heavenly homeland, development, good education, mind, science, art, sports and quality life. Today, we are the guarantee of a future happy life and peace for even a few very scared people and their families,” he said.
He also emphasized that he would work even harder in the future.
“It doesn’t matter where I will be. What matters is youth. I am also in working families, in peasant fields. I am in the ring for children. Together we will succeed,” he concluded.
The President of the Republican People’s Party of Turkey, Özgür Özel, visited Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in prison, from where he sent strong messages to the Turkish people, as well as to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After the visit, Özel told the media that the greatest sorrow is that they are currently in front of the prison.
“Unfortunately, we are in Silivri (prison). We are in 2025. We were the first party in the last elections. We visited Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been elected mayor of the world’s most famous metropolis three times. They thought they would defeat him, but it is not that easy. They could not take into account Saracane (a place where protesters gathered, ed.). Now the whole world is after you. This is a reaction to the disgrace that Recep Tayyip Erdogan has created,” Özel said.
After that, he addressed Erdogan.
“The citizens have given us their support. I am saying this to Erdogan, who is bursting with envy. That photo has gone down in history. The democratic revolution has trampled on the anti-democratic order of Tayyip Erdogan. He has shamed his voters. I know that AKP voters are ashamed too. We will continue with surprises. We are strengthening and scaring them,” concluded the CHP president, the Hurriyet writes.
