The General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly convened under the chairmanship of the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Celal Adan. Adan promised the group deputy chairmen of the political parties to make evaluations on the agenda.
Group Chairman Mehmet Emin Ekmen, on behalf of the YENİ Road Group, stated that the establishment of an investigation commission was inevitable and that AKP also needed this commission.
MEHMET EMİN EKMEN: AKPARTİ NEEDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION
Ekmen said, "This investigation commission will be established in this Parliament, there is really no other choice. If you do not protect the rights of 86 million, you have to protect the rights of 12 million AK Party members, you have to protect the rights of 25 million Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voters. In other words, 300, 500 scammers, cheaters, greedy, ambitious people worth billions of dollars... Well, we are still paying 'thousand' with the old money." "We are people who call 'million' and 'million' 'billion'. Since the introduction of the new currency for the first time, we have been using the term 'billion' in relation to a person, and we are astonished by this. You have no way or power to protect them," he said.
Ekmen argued that the establishment of the commission was needed, especially within the AKP, and said, "This commission must be established, there is nothing to escape from it, and the AK Party needs it the most, and the AK Party deputies, AK Party politicians, and AK Party voters, who are outside this pollution, need it the most. Otherwise, the entire AK Party family and the world will be perceived as a part of the network created by this handful of greedy people in the politics, bureaucracy and business world."
UĞUR POYRAZ: THE PARLIAMENT INVESTIGATION COMMISSION IS NECESSARY FOR THIS INCIDENT TO COME TO EMERGENCE
İYİ Party Group Deputy Chairman Uğur Poyraz stated that the AKP desks were emptied after the Vice President's briefing at the General Assembly, and evaluated this as a "constructive criticism" and said, "The Justice and Development Party's desks were not full even though the Vice President was here, and after the Vice President finished his speech and sat alone in the place on the left, the Justice and Development Party's desks became empty."
Describing the situation he has seen in the AKP ranks for the last two days as "political depression", Poyraz said that the Parliamentary investigation commission is not the "instrument of satisfaction" of the opposition and noted the following:
"The Parliamentary Investigation Commission has found that this incident has come to light and many people, including members of the Justice and Development Party, MPs, politicians and bureaucrats, have escaped suspicion. Otherwise, as Mr. Elvan just stated, I do not want to read some names from the spokespersons of political parties or newspaper headlines for two weeks. As a parliamentarian, as an MP, I feel ashamed of this. How much of this money went abroad, did these boards, these institutions not see this, do they not keep records about it? That's it." "What did or did not our internal control mechanisms do when the money was transferred abroad or why did they not do this?"
Poyraz argued that the references to the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also changed with the process and said, "As a result of the sentences you started and finished with 'under the leadership of Mr. President, there is a funding crisis, a crisis of trust, a crisis of management, but under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the sentence suddenly cut off like a knife.'"
Poyraz stated that there was no need for any instructions to reveal those responsible and said, "A person sitting in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey, a person sitting in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and today, every member of parliament, every bureaucrat, every politician sitting in every seat in this parliament must first act in accordance with the Constitution, then the laws and the oaths they have taken, before the instructions of the President."
SEVDA ERDEN KILIÇ: WE WILL NOT REMOVE THIS ISSUE FROM THE AGENDA UNTIL THE INVESTIGATION COMMISSION IS ESTABLISHED
CHP Group Deputy Chair Sevda Erden Kılıç stated that the opposition parties have been trying to discuss the research proposals for about 30 hours and said, "Even if it is 300 hours, we insist on this issue. We will definitely not drop this issue from the agenda of this Parliament until the research commission is established. Now, 455 thousand 758 investors have money left. When we think about their families, relatives, etc., we are talking about an issue that concerns millions of people here."
Kılıç argued that the expression "fund crisis" softens what happened and said, "We say there is a crisis, fund crisis, etc., but when we actually look at it, it is a fund robbery. There is no need to soften it or make it polite. Politics, bureaucrats and supporters came together and committed such a robbery."
GÜLİSTAN KILIÇ KOÇYİĞİT: WHAT ARE YOU HIDING, WHAT DO YOU MISS FROM THE SOCIETY?
DEM Party Group Deputy Chairman Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit stated that the government has been opposing the establishment of a Parliamentary investigation commission for two days and said, "What are you hiding? What are you missing from the public? What do you not want the MPs to know? We have been wasting our time here for two days, we have been trying to explain the background of the fund fraud made here for two days. We are trying to say how the government turned a blind eye to this process, how the institutions did not do their job. But still on the second day, there is an insistence not to establish an investigation commission. "There is stubbornness and they do not want to have it installed," he said.
Regarding the responsibility of public institutions, Kılıç Koçyiğit said, "Did I appoint the Board of Directors of the CMB Presidency? Did I appoint the Party? Did we appoint the Board of Directors of the BRSA Presidency? Are we on the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Stock Exchange? Do we prepare the MASAK reports? Why don't you do your job? Why don't you fulfill your duty of supervision? You haven't done it, you have caused damage to 500 thousand people, 2 million citizens with their families, and hundreds of millions of dollars to this country." "You come and talk as if nothing happened. We can't find words anymore. We can't find words to describe the magnitude and gravity of the incident."
ALİ MAHİR BAŞARIR: IF THE ASSEMBLY WILL NOT INVESTIGATE THIS ISSUE, WHAT WILL IT INVESTIGATE?
NEW Party Group Deputy Chairman Ali Mahir Basarir pointed out that the Parliament should investigate the fund crisis in the first working week of the new legislative year and said, "I see that this legislative year will not go well for the nation. Look, there is a disgrace. There is a fund fraud. Nearly 100 billion dollars are being talked about. How many times the budget of the Republic of Turkey? 20 percent of the foreign debt, friends! We are talking about 20 percent of our foreign debt, look at the percentage of the debts you have incurred for 24 years." 20th. And we are not talking about this in the Parliament. What if this is investigated? If the Turkish Grand National Assembly does not investigate this issue, what will it investigate? he asked.
Stating that AKP Konya Deputy Mehmet Baykan was laughing during his speech, Basarir said, "People have been victimized here, there is a fraud worth billions of lira, the man is laughing. Is it so funny? Is it so funny? Is it so funny?" he reacted. Thereupon, a short verbal argument took place between Baykan and Basarir.
Basarir stated that the Parliamentary investigation commission should be established and said, "The Parliament has to do its duty, the Parliament has to investigate. A smart person comes along and deposits money into these funds and withdraws it after making huge profits. He does not explain who smuggled it abroad. They give us the task here. We explain, but the necessary things are not done."
Evaluating the fund crisis as well as pensions and minimum wage, Basarir said, "Every day, a police officer, an unappointed teacher, our children, people commit suicide. Two sausages and cheese bought by a man who cannot take breakfast home are becoming a topic in this country. The country is in this situation, but we, as the Parliament, cannot talk about this issue. An investigation commission cannot be established; it should be established, established, established, talked about here, discussed here. There is a real justice problem in this country, everyone will of course express it. Old We are talking about 2.2 quadrillion TL in money, 20 billion TL in old money, MASAK is not aware of it, no one is aware of it. How does 20 billion TL come out in my country? he said.
ÖZLEM ZENGİN: THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE
AKP Group Deputy Chairman Özlem Zengin apologized for her voice and stated that she was ill. Zengin said that he was sorry for the developments and that the MPs also felt this weight and said:
"While you are speaking here, I think you are speaking with harsh expressions rather than their volume. In doing so, you are actually trying to create a trigger in a sense. I want you to know that if there is a mistake in a community, that mistake disturbs everyone in the same way, regardless of the party they belong to. This is an important issue, no matter what we call it; fund mentality, fund crisis, fund issue, fund robbery, whatever we call it. Today, we thank our Vice President, they also expressed at the General Assembly the volume of this; but regardless of its volume, the existence of this incident is very important." They said it was an important issue."
Stating that the Fund Monitoring Board has been established, Zengin said, "With this board, it is aimed to first determine the picture of the people who are victims and make payments up to 1 million as soon as possible. The judicial process is already continuing. We think this is the most important part."
Zengin stated that there was a possibility of organized crime in what happened and said, "We are not asking 'Who got how much lira?', but 'How was this crime committed?', 'Who among those who committed this crime was involved in the public sector and in what way?' Determining this is very important for the future of Türkiye as a whole, it is important for the future of Turkish politics."
Stating that the State Supervisory Board is also responsible for finding out where mistakes were made and detecting problems related to the functioning of the system, Zengin said, "For this reason, I think that this great robbery, this great... especially this big problematic issue created by deceiving people, the fund crisis, we will definitely solve it here together, and I think we will solve it in Türkiye. I think the judiciary should definitely punish them."
Zengin stated that a parliamentary investigation commission could be established and said, "A commission can also be established; this is one of them. We will discuss this again in the coming days. The commission is one of these stages, but what has been done so far should also be evaluated with importance."
Expressing his reaction to the discussions in the General Assembly by referring to the discussion of YENİ Party member Basarir with AKP's Baykan at the beginning of his speech, Zengin said, "I cannot tolerate you describing the deputies in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as potential thieves. There is no such thing! There is no such thing! How can you say that to people just because 'he smiled'?" he said.
ALİ MAHİR BAŞARIR: I WANT THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO PERFORMED THIS TO BE PROMOTED AND EXPLAINED
Basarir stated that he did not generalize all MPs and said, "I'm sure there are MPs here who give their children 50 lira pocket money and prepare breakfast. I want the names of those who do this to be revealed and explained in order to protect their honor and dignity."
Regarding the reaction of some MPs when the funding crisis was being discussed, Basarir said, "I was disturbed by the fact that a friend of ours was staring, shaking his head and laughing while I was talking about suicides, hunger and misery. Let me say this."
ÖZLEM ZENGİN: I DON'T KNOW HOW, BUT THE LIST SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED
AKP Group Deputy Chairman Özlem Zengin said, "I want the entire list to be announced. I want all of them to be announced. Okay, I don't know how, but I think this list should be announced, so that everyone can find peace."
Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Celal Adan, said after the discussions, "There is no human dignity where there is no justice. There is no human dignity, there is no human dignity. Even the flag is in trouble. We find a more just Türkiye right for our nation. We will build a more just Türkiye together."
UĞUR POYRAZ: THE REASON FOR OUR INSISTANCE ON THE INVESTIGATION COMMISSION IS NOT TO LEAVE ANYONE UNDER SUSPICION.
İYİ Party Group Deputy Chairman Uğur Poyraz also took the floor again and said that MPs should not leave each other under suspicion. Poyraz said, "First of all, all MPs are colleagues here. Therefore, it is not possible for any of us to assume an attitude that would suspect or criticize each other in any way or on any issue. Of course, we will discuss. You, as the government, in the enforcement authority, and we, as the opposition, in the warning and warning authority, will carry out these processes and continue to manage."
Stating that the purpose of their insistence on the investigation commission is not to suspect anyone, Poyraz said, "Therefore, the reason for our insistence on this issue regarding this investigation commission is that the parliament and the manifestation of national sovereignty can take action on this issue together, without suspecting anyone. This is on behalf of the government, not on behalf of the opposition, but on behalf of the nation. That's why I find this call of Mr. Özgür Özel very valuable. I hope that all components of the government will give the same support to this call."
