Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay made a statement regarding the process of joining the AK Party. Tugay also talked about what happened at the badge pinning ceremony.
"OUR PRESIDENT LISTENED TO ME THERE AND DID NOT LEAVE ME ALONE"
Stating that the only purpose of his decision was to serve Izmir, Cemil Tugay said about being next to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the badge ceremony, "I have been in politics for years, I have never seen any leader, the Chairman or our President standing next to someone else while he was making a speech downstairs. Our President listened to me there during my speech, waited for the speech to end, did not leave me alone." he said.
Making a statement regarding the criticisms regarding his speech at the badge-wearing ceremony, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality said, "That speech was a speech that I wrote word for word, with all its words down to the last letter. I am very sorry for the misunderstanding." he said and said:
"Frankly, I am a person who entered politics to be the helper of the orphans. No one can deny Ataturk's words. But does this prevent the AK Party from claiming that legacy and wanting to be the advocate of the orphans as a party? I don't understand why it is being criticized so much."
"I WAS VERY IMPRESSED BY ERDOĞAN THAT DAY"
Speaking about the meeting in Beştepe before his decision to join the AK Party, Tugay said, "I saw a much different person than the Erdoğan I expected and knew. I saw a very full-bodied, respected person with a fatherly and natural approach. Frankly, I was very impressed by him in a positive way that day." he said and continued as follows:
"When you have a close dialogue, you see that he is, first of all, a human being, a good-hearted person, a person who has been working hard for many years to serve his country. He impresses people, inevitably. In that speech, I heard that our President attaches importance to Izmir; that he will support in every way to make investments in Izmir and solve Izmir's problems. That's why there was a sense of trust and closeness."
"I WEAR A SHIRT FROM FIRE, BUT I BELIEVE I DID IT RIGHT"
Tugay, who said that he thought a lot and took risks before making the decision, said the following in his interview with Yeni Asır:
"I thought a lot, took risks, wore a shirt of fire. I say these as people say; it is not really an easy thing, but I believe I did it right. The biggest gain for me was feeling the support of a strong President."
CEMİL TUGAY JOINED AK PARTY
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay joined the AK Party last Wednesday. With this step, the administration passed to the AK Party for the first time in the history of the city.
After wearing his badge, Cemil Tugay went to the podium and made statements about the progress reached.
"One of our elders said, 'The greatest gift to our nation is politics.' I realized that the best politics is service." Tugay said, after emphasizing that he has been the mayor for 7.5 years, he said:
"During my term of office, I served our citizens without distinguishing them from each other. All our citizens, from the youngest to the oldest, became my family.
"AK PARTY IS THE ONE OF THE OWNERS"
Why do we do politics? A great leader described why we did this as follows in his speeches: 'We are doing politics to defend the rights of the oppressed who have been violated. AK Party is the nobody of the helpless.' These are the words of our great leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who left his mark on the last 25 years of the Republic of Türkiye.
Right here I would like to say this; Every citizen of Izmir knows that the politician who sincerely protects the Republic is the one who works to be someone for the homeless. I am before you today... Under this roof, which I joined with faith and trust, I came to you for a great and strong Türkiye, for a nation free from polarization, under the leadership of our President. I came to make hearts.
With the leadership of our President and the valuable support of the AK Party family, we are setting out to revive Izmir and literally rebuild our city.
