Yesterday, CHP leader Özgür Özer hosted the Hürriyet team, consisting of Ankara representative Hande Flat, Press Director Hasel Boyacıoğlu and Information Director Turan Yılmaz, in his office on the 12th floor of CHP headquarters, where he is scheduled to welcome President Tayyip Erdoğan. Özer delivered the following message:
Normalization contacts are very important
“We will discuss minimum wages and pensions (with the President). If there is no regulation of the minimum wage, we will hold a big rally “We can’t do it”. There must be fairness in taxes. More than many earners, less than few earners. Both for my identity as a pharmacist and my salary as a member of parliament, they should take more taxes from me. I will also convey greetings from Rize. Again, we will continue to hold thematic rallies regardless of anyone’s concerns. The developments on February 28 after the last meeting were important. The second was a meeting with the Vice President and the Cabinet. Meetings were held with Mehmet Ozaseki and Hakan Fidan, and today (yesterday) Yanki Baçoğlu met with Defense Minister Yaşar Güler. A meeting with Interior Minister Ali Yerikaya is scheduled for Monday. After these four meetings, we will meet on Tuesday. These contacts are important both for us and for the normalization of the country.
I will be attending the reception on October 29th.
The most basic gains, a handshake, a conversation (without a meeting with the president), have been achieved, so we should not lose them. Even if nothing has been achieved, from now on, on holidays, I will call Mr. Erdogan to congratulate him, and I will also talk to Mr. Debre. We will shake hands at the Anitkabī Mausoleum. If the head of the executive branch comes to the reception on April 23, I will also go to the reception on October 29. Unless something extraordinary happens, unless we become incredibly strict and reject the law and the constitution, and reach the stage where the president says, “I don’t know you,” you may not go, but in today’s situation, he did not go. If he was re-elected in the last election and will govern this country until the first election. 23 If he comes to the reception on April, I am the first party in this country, if he comes and shakes hands. From now on, I will go to shake hands with him on October 29. I don’t like to go to social gatherings for political meetings, because there is significant opposition there, so there is no harm in continuing mutual political contacts at the Çankaya mansion or at the party headquarters, but I also told them that if he hosts a rally on October 29, I will attend the reception there as president, there is no problem with this.
They can’t be translated into street language
What hurt the AK Party the most in the elections was that…there is no spirit or language left in the AK Party to translate the economy into the language of the streets, as there once was. Now the worst is over, he says. What does this mean, next month it will be better. But it’s not good, the cost of living continues. Because inflation and the cost of living are confused, the idea that inflation is falling has been used conveniently for the government, but now, on the contrary, if prices do not fall, the people become anxious.
We do not call for early elections.
Nobody has a recipe for a positive scenario in the very short term, or even in the medium term. This is why Erdogan has four years of no elections. Premature elections are extremely disadvantageous for the government, and they know that. I said on election night that I don’t want elections because I asked all my members to vote, and now, if you take March 31 in your favor and want early elections right away, the voters will say, “You can’t do that.” Trust one or the other. That’s why we don’t demand early elections on March 31. But if there are bad trends in the economy, if we don’t see any progress in the negotiations, and if there are demands for early elections from the streets, it is our duty as the opposition to voice that.”
we sit here
– Regarding President Erdogan’s long-awaited return visit, Prime Minister Ozgur Özer said, “We will sit here,” adding, “(pointing to the seat where he sits) This one already has a twin. (pointing to a small round table in the center) There are two armchairs next to this table. The president will sit on the Turkish flag side, and I will sit on the CHP flag side. Now that the president has arrived, the Turkish flag will also have the presidential emblem on it. We requested it from the president, because we requested a flag that complies with everything that is written in the law. Our party has a lot of experience as a state, and some even consider our party to be a state party, but we have not had a statehood experience for a long time, and that’s why we are asking questions.”
What will be offered?
When the president came, I asked what I needed to do in the building. For example, I was told it would be rude to ask to sit on the CHP flag side. Of course I would ask. But there are some things here that you can’t get anywhere else, like mesir tea, purple basil tea, carob tea.”
You will be put off by the sight of Anitokabul.
– “Normalization is an issue that interests me in several ways. Until now, I have been a supporting character while political history was being written. I was a group vice-chairman of the CHP, but after all, I was the person who worked in the legislative branch, not in the administration of the party. From now on, you will go down in history as the chairman, that is, the main character, in that picture. And the year is 2024, politicians are filing two contempt cases a week, but they are not shaking hands… It would be very disturbing to see this footage in Atkabir, there was no handshake, and there is nothing right or wrong to shake hands. This. After all, you are in that picture.
I did a lot of work in that back room.
A lot of things were happening in the parliament. All the people involved sat in the room behind the parliament speaker’s chair, and we started drinking tea and eating. It was very tense there too. The only time we went there was when there was a fight. We actually started normalizing in the back room of the parliament. Sometimes there were moments of tension even with the AK Party and MHP group leaders, and there were moments when we could reconcile with them. We have Doan Kubat from the AK Party, who also made a very important contribution. In the nine years we spent there, it became a place where we all had tea and meals together. For example, the deputy chairman of DEM had dinner there, and the members of the AK Party and MHP had dinner there together. I put a lot of effort into that room, because I am one of the three longest-serving group deputy chairmen in the parliament. “Political normalization started in that room.”
It is deceiving yourself
– “To use the local elections as an excuse and say: ‘If you are the first party, you would want early elections’ would mean to consider the success of March 31 as a favor to the party as a whole, or as support for the transformation of the CHP,” he said, but it would be to deceive oneself. The change of government on March 31, the chairman, choosing the right candidate, the candidates have a role to play, especially the macro candidates, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mansur Yavash, Mersin, Adana, Antalya, the municipalities that took over from the AK Party. Their re-elections have been held in the last five years, which means that for the first time the CHP organization believed that it would win the elections despite everything, and here too the belief of the organization plays a part in it. As many people as voters have a voice, the organization is motivated, and the economy also contributes. “They all have influence, but I don’t distinguish between any of them.”
I used to be a “gladiator”
– ÖZGÜR Özel, in explaining the normalization process, gave the example of his time in boarding school: From the age of 10 to 17. My friends at school always say, “I think you’re a political fighter.” Normally, I was the funniest, the kindest, the one who didn’t fight the most, who got along with everyone, who didn’t hold grudges, and who made up the fastest. Until I became chairman, everyone thought I was like that. That was my duty, I used to be a gladiator. (In parliament) There is an arena there, and a war is going on. Tayyip Bey could do politics anywhere, but other people could only do politics in parliament because the area was closed. No one can be like him there. You will do whatever is expected of you. Can a gladiator be normal? We still maintained a very good relationship behind the scenes, but for example, you said great words and made important contributions in a session that lasted nine hours, but on TV you had a 40-second fight. “
15 percent of the votes came from the People’s Alliance.
– “There is no achievement that a 25 percent party can achieve by being polarized. You cannot grow while being polarized. This is very easy to understand about the opposition party. If you look at 38 percent of the votes are for the opposition party, you are right. But among them, the results of the survey company have been released, and in the latest votes for Mr. Konda, 15 percent have been voted from the People’s Alliance to the People’s Party for the first time. I don’t think you can get anywhere by being polarized.”
We’ve been polarized for 22 years.
Some people say, “Just before polarization, it becomes normal.” I don’t understand, we have been polarized for 22 years, the point we have reached is clear. The first time I got on the bus in the election, I said, “I will not fight anyone, I will not fight the opposition, Mr. Tayyip, Mr. Devlet say they want to fight with me, but I will not fight, I will only raise my voice. Solve your problems. What is not on your agenda will not be on my agenda.” And this is where I got the most applause.
