The opening speech was delivered by İstanbul Provincial Chair Özgür Çelik, and at the start of the rally, attendees were introduced, including Dilek İmamoğlu, the wife of İBB Mayor and CHP’s imprisoned presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu.
The rally then continued with a speech by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and concluded at 21.40 pm.
“We came to challenge injustice”
Özel explained the reason for gathering in Şişli as follows:
“We held one of the first rallies in Şişli. After completing İstanbul, and hoping there would be no need, the next stop after 39 rallies was supposed to be Şişli. But today marks the 200th day of the detention, the 200th ‘black night.’ Just as on the 100th day we were all together in Saraçhane, we decided today to gather at a symbolic place. We came to this square near the Çağlayan Courthouse, the center of these great injustices, to challenge these injustices.”
“Our mayors are imprisoned”
Özel remembered CHP mayors who are still in prison, including İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, as well as former CHP chairman Hikmet Çetin, who was hospitalized due to a heart condition:
“Representing all our metropolitan mayors in Turkey, today Balıkesir Mayor Ahmet Akın is with us. Unfortunately, some are absent. Our party’s elder, Hikmet Çetin, who always stood in Saraçhane every evening, ran to every rally, came up here, and said despite all our insistence, ‘I stand behind my party, my chairman’—he is currently under treatment due to a health condition. He is in intensive care, but not in life-threatening danger; he is being monitored as a precaution.”
Özel highlighted the oppression faced by mayors who were detained without concrete charges and whose indictments are still not ready:
“Threatening Mehmet Murat Çalık over his health, threatening Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek with death, confronting them in front of their families, mothers, and children—this is a merciless approach. We say it is time for this to end, for the indictments to be presented, for all slanders to be revealed, and for answers to be given. For 200 days, they have played with our dignity. For 200 days, they have attacked immorally. Every morning they release another lie, stomp on it for days, then retract it when proven false and introduce a new one. Our expectation from here is this: we are waiting for the indictment—not to be tried, but to judge these slanderers.”
“Chief prosecutor at Çağlayan Courthouse is not a prosecutor”
Özel targeted İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek, whom he holds responsible for the judicial operations against CHP municipalities:
“Erdoğan cannot face the public, he does not trust himself. He does not trust his party, the main branches, the women’s or youth branches. What does he do? ‘This won’t work. They are not one of us. I need another force to defeat them,’ he said, and sent a deputy minister to İstanbul as Chief Public Prosecutor, establishing AKP’s judicial arms. Today, the chief prosecutor at Çağlayan Courthouse is not a prosecutor. None of his decisions, none of his investigations comply with the constitution, conscience, or ethics. The judicial arm serves only the party leadership. We will hold him accountable for this oppression and also those who placed him there. And we will, by God.”
“A coward who thinks only of evil stands before us”
Özel directly addressed AKP Chairman Erdoğan:
“Remember what Erdoğan said when this investigation began? ‘They won’t even be able to look each other in the eye in a month, nor look their families in the eye.’ Look at how cruel, how audacious this accusation was. Now look into the eyes of Dilek İmamoğlu, standing in place of Ekrem. Is there anyone who cannot face her eyes? God has given strength to her, to all imprisoned spouses, to all of you. We face each other’s eyes and our faces. From here, in Şişli, looking Erdoğan in the eyes: Mr. Erdoğan, you said ‘one month’; six months and 20 days have passed. We are on the streets, in the squares. I look into the faces of tens of thousands in Şişli and say: our friends are innocent, we stand behind them to the end.”
Economic hardship and injustice
Özel highlighted the increasing poverty and cost-of-living pressures under Erdoğan’s administration:
“Believe me, these squares are not only for demanding justice in courts and against the injustices toward our elected, but also for the struggles of retirees, workers, tradespeople, farmers, youth, and all victims fighting the country’s worst economic hardships. As long as you overflow these squares with your anger, resistance, and struggle, we will overcome these dark days. This government is clearly an enemy of retirees. When it came to power, the lowest pension was eight quarter-gold coins; today it is two quarter-gold coins. If Erdoğan had never interfered, the lowest pension would be 56,000 lira, the minimum wage 49-50,000 lira. Instead, they forced the minimum wage to 22,000 lira, gave a 30% raise during 44% inflation, stealing 15% from every minimum-wage earner. Turkey now experiences Europe’s highest inflation in one month. We are the poorest country in Europe and one of the most unfair in taxation worldwide.”
Özel said that AKP and MHP voters are largely unaware of these facts:
“If they knew, they wouldn’t vote for them or even greet them. One hundred lira of tax: 89 comes from the poor, 11 from the rich. We will reverse this when we come to power. Are you ready to fight with us, take what is rightfully ours, take the rights of the people from those in power, and establish the rule of the people? Ekrem İmamoğlu’s struggle for freedom is the country’s struggle for power. Our friends’ struggle for freedom is to raise pensions from two quarter-gold coins to eight, 10 quarter-gold coins. If we do not fight, they plan a 20% increase in minimum wage, bringing it to 26,000 lira from January 2025 to December 2025. We will not remain silent; we will secure the rights of minimum-wage earners and retirees. Those who deny will be removed, the people will come to power.”
Trump and Erdoğan
Özel also criticized Erdoğan’s dealings with the U.S.:
“Trump praises Erdoğan, not out of goodwill, but for Erdoğan’s own benefit. Buy 225 Boeings, buy expensive liquefied natural gas from American companies for 20 years, grant every concession he wants, and even hand over rare earth elements. They say, ‘Erdoğan’s seat is secure because of Trump.’ Yes, if you buy Boeing planes, yes if you give rare elements, the seat is secure. But the seat given by Trump is not legitimate. A nation brings a person to power, and a nation will also remove them. You cannot remain in power relying on a foreign endorsement. We embrace the people and are ready to remove you from power.”
“We will announce the March 19 coup to the world”
Özel announced plans to bring their struggle to the international stage:
“We will inform the world of the March 19 coup with 87 parties from 79 countries, seek international support, and resist globally as we do in Turkey. Everyone should know: we will never operate within the limits Erdoğan sets. We will expose to the world that Erdoğan is not a democrat but an autocrat. They think they can confine Özgür Özel and CHP within their drawn boundaries—they cannot. We will never surrender. And our time in opposition is not very long.”
“We will win by resisting”
Özel announced that the “Rallies for Protecting the People’s Will” would continue abroad:
“Tomorrow we leave, Saturday we move from Madrid to Brussels. On Sunday, 12 October, at 14.00 pm, we will hold the 61st rally in Brussels Square with citizens and comrades from Brussels, the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Afterwards, every Wednesday in İstanbul, every weekend in Anatolia, whenever necessary anywhere in the world, we will resist this coup. We will announce it, repel it, and win by resisting.”
He concluded:
“Do not abandon the struggle. If we stop, they will trample this nation. If we speak one word less, they will silence us. If we take one step back, they will take this nation a hundred years backward. If we bend one centimeter, they will make this nation kneel. Are we ready to prevent this? Will we walk together? Will we reach victory together? Will we make Ekrem president? Will we bring Atatürk’s party to power? Are we ready for this march? Then let’s walk, friends.”
(AEK/MH)
