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Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was elected the Metropolitan Mayor of İstanbul according to unofficial election results, but whose certificate of election was revoked after the Supreme Election Council (YSK) annulled the İstanbul elections, has paid a visit to Göknur Damat, whom President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls "my foster daughter" and who was stabbed after expressing her support for İmamoğlu.
Göknur Damat donated 20 Turkish Lira (TRY) to İmamoğlu's election campaign and shared the bank receipt on her social media account with the message, "Everything will be fine."
CLICK - İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu: 'Everything will be Fine'
Damat was stabbed by a man in the middle of the street last evening (May 12). Before stabbing her, the man said, "Are you that brave-heart?"
İmamoğlu: Morals, conscience of society at stake
Ekrem İmamoğlu visited Göknur Damat at her make-up studio in Tekirdağ today. Speaking about the incident, İmamoğlu said,
"We are really disturbed. We need to remember our conscience. It is the problem of all of us that she was attacked due to her choices and the culture of lynch has become established in society.
"It is not Göknur or Ekrem İmamoğlu who is at stake here; it is the morals and conscience of the society, what is in question."
Referring to the attack launched against daily Yeniçağ columnist and Türkiye TV program producer Yavuz Selim Demirağ, İmamoğlu further stated, "The ones who commit such act are unfortunately released. More recently, on April 21, our chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was also subjected to a lynch attempt. The ones responsible for that attack are outside as well."
Damat: I don't want to be an instrument to politics
As for Damat, she said that she is a make-up artists currently undergoing a cancer treatment and does not want to be instrument to politics. Damat recounted what she lived through during and after the attack as follows:
"I have been targeted on social media for the last three days. It is violence against women.
"Yesterday, I was overwhelmed by what I had been going through and went out to get some fresh air without eating anything or taking my medication.
"A man came to me on the street opposite to my house. He said to me, 'Are you that braveheart' and stabbed me."
About Göknur Damat
34-year-old Göknur Damat attended a TV program in March 2017 and recounted that the doctors told her "she had six months to live" due to breast cancer, but after opening a make-up studio by receiving a loan from Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB), she recovered her morale and survived the cancer.
Damat went to the Presidency in Beştepe in 2017 and President and AKP Chair Erdoğan was calling Damat as "my foster daughter". In his speeches, Erdoğan was also mentioning Damat's struggle against cancer.
In the above name badge prepared for Göknur Damat for AKP's election rally in Tekirdağ, Damat is referred to as "the foster daughter of our President." (EKN/SD)
