CHP leader tells mayors to embrace all citizens

ANKARA

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said he has told the newly elected CHP mayors to “embrace” everyone in their cities and not to give into any “partisanship.”

“I told every [CHP] mayor: Your main job starts now. Fulfill the promise that you have given. You will not undertake any partisanship. You have given your promise, you will embrace all the city [of which you have been elected],” Kılıçdaroğlu told his parliamentary group on April 30.

“I, from here, thank with my heart all of the citizens who voted for the CHP; they are the ones who brought the spring. Mansur Yavaş has brought spring to Ankara, Ekrem İmamoğlu to Istanbul, Zeydan Karalar to Adana,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Kılıçdaroğlu has also called on the Supreme Election Council to immediately confirm İmamoğlu as the mayor of Istanbul and put an end to the appeal process.

“It has already been a month since elections. The credential has been given (to İmamoğlu), but the final announcement is yet to be done. The people of Istanbul voted in favor of rule of law and democracy,” he said.

“The YSK is not an ordinary supreme court. It consists of experienced judges who should not bow to pressure from the government. Therefore, they should as soon as possible end the appeal process and announce İmamoğlu as the Istanbul mayor. There is not any other alternative,” he stressed.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had appealed for the annulment of the Istanbul polls due to alleged irregularities. A recount confirmed İmamoğlu still was ahead of AKP’s Binali Yıldırım.

“They count votes from top to bottom, bottom to top and then from right to left and left to right, but the result does not change. It’s always İmamoğlu. What else will you do?” asked Kılıçdaroğlu.

“The YSK should give its decision upon laws and case law and reject pressure,” he stated.

The Turkish people voted in favor of democracy and rule of law, and the success of the oppositional parties in winning the country’ s biggest metropolis should be attributed to this faith in democracy, Kılıçdaroğlu said.

CHP leader told his group about a recent attack against him by a nationalist mob as he attended the funeral of a fallen soldier near Ankara.

“What hurt me most was the disrespect to our martyr. They did not allow an even proper funeral and commemoration for our martyr,” Kılıçdaroğlu said, describing the incident as a pure lynch attempt.

“I had to take the security forces’ armored vehicle twice in my entire life. First was after the PKK had attacked me in outside Artvin (an eastern Anatolian town). The second was after this attack. The perpetrators of the second attack are no different from the PKK terrorists,” he said.

“Because the PKK wants to divide Turkey and these attackers had the same objective.”