The balances have changed

CHP Group Deputy Chair Özgür Özel replied yesterday during the Justice March to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments about the march and himself. Özel, saying, ‘We thought he had heeded the general chair’s call and was coming, but he turned back at Kahramankazan. We were wondering if he would come here and respond to the citizens’ quest for justice,’ said that Erdoğan was incapable of assembling the crowds he once did and was addressing empty desks. Özel said, ‘The political balances in Turkey and Erdoğan’s chemistry have changed. He is extremely disturbed by this march, and, as one who is accustomed to and boasts about setting Turkey’s agenda himself, he thought that after the 7 June elections and referendum he would relive his old days after having taken over at the top of the party. This is the heaviest blow to him since becoming party-affiliated president. The Justice March is setting the agenda.’

‘We will not fall for this trick’

Özel, saying that Erdoğan had taken an excerpt from a speech he made in parliament last week and that was not widely reported, commented, ‘He has shouted the comment from the rooftops at two sundown meals. What comment was that? The question: “Seeing that you are governing the country so honestly, you say that you entered politics owning a single ring, so how did you amass these assets?” We are talking about personal wealth amounting to three and a half billion and this has also become a question for debate among leaders. Now, he is trying to reconcile things and create a new agenda. What he is up to, in a word, is digging a ditch in front of the Justice March. He wants to make the Justice March fall into a polemical ditch. From there, he wants to set the set the agenda once more with polemics of his own creation. We will not fall into that ditch and will not fall for this trick. The Justice March will be the first item on Turkey’s agenda for some time to come.’

Özel, saying, ‘I don’t give a hoot’ with reference to Erdoğan suing him, commented:
‘He says, “The Yenikapı spirit has vanished.” If anybody has wrecked the Yenikapı spirit, it is those who brand a full half of the country terrorists. If this point was harped on about when he phoned the general chair the next day about my stance in parliament, there is one reason for this and that is being caught red-handed on 15 July trying to instigate his own coup. We have caught him red-handed over the 20 July state of emergency coup, and he does not know who to attack. The controlled coup he was caught red-handed perpetrating is leading to uncontrolled nervous attacks.’