İYİ Party Chair Meral Akşener: ‘Winter is Coming’ for the AKP

* Photograph: Murat Kaynak / AA - Ankara

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Meral Akşener, the Chair of İYİ Party, which is a part of the Nation Alliance with the Republican People's Party (CHP), addressed her party members at the İYİ Party weekly group meeting in Parliament today (June 25).

Speaking in the wake of İstanbul repeat elections, where Nation Alliance candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu from the CHP has been elected the Metropolitan Mayor of İstanbul according to unofficial results, Akşener said to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP): "Winter is coming for the AK Party."

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Some highlights from Akşener's speech were as follows:

'Maturity turned into democratic solidarity on June 23'

"Especially our citizens who voted for the People's Alliance on March 31, but changed their minds on June 23 said, 'I am the nation. If I choose someone with my will, no one can change that. The ones who unlawfully intervenes against Nation Alliance's candidate today will do the same thing to me tomorrow.' This maturity turned into democratic solidarity on June 23 and it was once again proclaimed that the will of the nation is above all else.

"We all are the winners of this election, but there are also its losers. These losers are the ones who have betrayed our İstanbul, who have submerged the city into concrete, acquired unearned income from İstanbul and forced the city to pay money without doing any work themselves.

'The message is not cryptic, but quite clear'

"After every election, it is asked, 'What message has the nation given?' The message is not cryptic at all, but it is quite clear: The nation wants peace.

"Economy does not have any consistency anymore. Our country is face to face with one of the gravest crises of its history. Meals are getting smaller and bites are getting fewer. In this country, there are people who set themselves on fire or who faint due to starvation.

"[They say] I built roads, I brought refrigerators, I filled your bellies... Such statements do not suit the seriousness of the state. You are talking so big that you will almost say, 'It was us who introduced Islam to Anatolia'."

Concluding her remarks, Akşener asked, "Will we hold you in power forever just because you have built double highways?" and addressed the ruling AKP by referring to a frequently repeated line from the TV series Game of Thrones: "Winter is coming for the AK Party." (AÖ/SD)