NEW Party Chairman Özgür Özel answered journalists' questions when he arrived at the hearing where detained Presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was tried.
Özel said:
"We said that Ekrem President's defense would go beyond refuting the slanders made against him, and that he would put this prosecution on trial. You are watching, too, we have been watching for three days. Just as Ekrem President refuted all the slanders thrown against him, one by one, and even with some secret witness statements in the slanders made against him, or the slanderous statements made by him as a confessor, while no evidence supporting them could be projected on the screens, Ekrem İmamoğlu put that claim on the screens for each allegation." It reflects refuting evidence.
Yesterday, they all put on the screen with evidence that the Cebeci issue, which they said was the biggest part of the corruption in this case, had nothing to do with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, that the ten percent share was taken by the Istanbul Governorship, that the permissions were given by the ministries, that the municipality that came and went there was a district municipality with the AK Party, and that the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality had nothing to do with the issue. What did the prosecutor do? Could he turn around and look you in the eye? Could he stand behind his indictment?
"THE PROSECUTION IS IN A DISASTER CONDITION"
The prosecution office and the prosecution are a whole. In other words, everyone who created this indictment, including the former Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor and the current Minister of Justice, is represented by the prosecutor here today. Can those who make these slanders turn around and look Ekrem İmamoğlu in the eye? Can he say a word? While Ekrem President refutes all the allegations, can he say 'No sir, he is not telling the truth, this is the truth'? None of this happens.
The prosecution is in a devastated situation. According to the indictment, 156 napkins, one by one, are taken and thrown away by Ekrem İmamoğlu, like a hundred napkins. The indictment is incompetent. The prosecution is incapacitated. The indictment is devastated before the eyes of the whole nation.
Now, at a point where this is the case, it is more possible to understand why Halk TV was closed a few hours before the defense. Because they don't want the defense to be heard by the people. Now do you understand why we wanted a live broadcast with great confidence, but even though Devlet Bey said it should be broadcast, and Erdoğan said of course it would be if Devlet Bey wanted it, do you see why it was not broadcast live? You know, what did Akın Gürlek say when he was threatened by a slanderous prosecutor and stood up to Ekrem Mayor? 'I wonder if they still want live broadcasts?' We want. We want Mr. Akin. We are here. But you, let alone broadcasting it live, were afraid of Halk TV having a reporter here and telling this from the front door during its live broadcast, so you closed down Halk TV.
"WHO IS THE INSULT, WHO IS THE BAD WORD?"
Let's remember that Ekrem President tried not to have his defense made at first. It was not built from March 9 to July 9. On July 9, the judge did not allow two days on July 9 because he thought he would go on vacation. It wasn't done in August. Selin is in this situation now because they did not want their defense to be heard, which they were forced to make by shutting down Halk TV in the morning of the day when the disaster hit Istanbul. When we published Ekrem President's unmade defense as a book, they decided to collect it in the book. You are listening to the original defense. What is there here that would make you collect books? Who is being insulted? Who has bad words? Moreover, does any statement in this defense for collecting books have a place in the law? That's why the Justice and Development Party and the Minister of Justice are not afraid for nothing. Because a great lie has collapsed. President Ekrem presents the truth to our nation. The manifesto of truth is recorded line by line.
"İMAMOĞLU EXPLAINS ONE BY ONE"
I wish it were possible. Here, the decision will be determined by lot, not this judge, but 100 Istanbul residents should both listen to the indictment and listen to Ekrem Bey. If one of them approves the indictment, let Ekrem İmamoğlu serve 50 years. Let 100 impartial, conscientious people come here, listen here, and let one of them say, 'Ekrem İmamoğlu committed corruption in Istanbul'. He explains it step by step. How he paid his debts, how he paid off the interest, how he quintupled the aid, how he saved Üsküdar from water. Even these days the streams are overflowing. How could he not give planning permission to a single stream bed? How it resisted Canal Istanbul, which was a betrayal project against Istanbul, and how it became the most easily loaned institution in the world. How did IMM become the institution with the highest credit rating in Turkey?
"AKIN GÜRLEK WAS BURIED BEHIND THE SCREEN"
How could they not digest the success of Ekrem İmamoğlu, who found resources for ten metros at the same time, operated these metros, and advanced their construction, while in a place where 10 metros were stopped and frozen because they were in IMM tax debt, SGK debt, and could not find loans from the world. Let them see these. Istanbul has gone from Istanbul, where 10 metro lines could not move one meter, to a point where 10 metro lines are moving fast underground at the same time, and the last word is that they wrote that amount off as corruption because you paid the money found outside for this metro with IMM's money. He clearly proved it yesterday. 'We took it from our pocket and put it in our other pocket. First, we asked for money for the subway, but at that time, without waiting for the money, I built the subway with the money of IMM. When the source of the metro came from abroad, I paid off the debt here. What's the crime in this?' he said. The prosecutor was buried behind the screen. It disappeared. The prosecutor who was absent yesterday, the prosecutor who literally ran under the couch, the prosecutor who kept his eyes away from us and our families, is not a human being. He is the all-out prosecution, Akın Gürlek. Akın Gürlek is literally buried behind the screen. They cannot look anyone in the face, the indictment has collapsed. Ekrem İmamoğlu's defense will go down in history. Come on, media organizations close to the government, come out and tell us what you heard inside. I say this to those who write six columns based on the words of one slanderer. Come on, let's give Ekrem İmamoğlu's defense this much space in your column.
"THE RIGHT TO DEFENSE IS SACRED"
Özel gave the following answer to the question about opening an investigation into Ekrem İmamoğlu's defense:
"Defense cannot be restricted. Look, not even after the defense is over. By opening an investigation between the second and third day of the defense, Ekrem İmamoğlu's right to defense is actually threatened and hindered. It is said that do not defend, tell the truth, we will file another case against it. Ekrem İmamoğlu's defense has reached the element of crime. By the way, defense is such a sacred work that even the lawyer cannot be held responsible for the sentences he uses while defending his client, it does not constitute a crime. Let me tell you how many thousands of sentences he uses while defending his client. You find crime in the sentences made by the person you have tried for years to defend himself. You have been slandering the people here and their families through all your newspapers for 1.5 years. It is not a crime, it is a crime to defend yourself against these slanders. The people will break the hands that are stretched to the sacred.
"THEY DON'T HAVE THE COURAGE TO BROADCAST IT ON TRT"
The cause finds support in the hearts of the nation. They do the weirdest job in the world. They do not have the courage to present a case in Çağlayan Courthouse. They don't have the courage to broadcast it on TRT. They set up a courtroom behind iron bars in Silivri. They put the courtroom inside a huge barrier. They want as few people as possible to watch it here. There are people who wholeheartedly come here every day, watch this hearing every day, and have not missed a day since March 9th. Every time I see them, my gratitude for them increases. Political parties also support it internally. They will give more. There is talk of leaders' visits. "Of course, we are grateful to all of them, but of course we expect more."
