CHP Chair Özgür Özel made statements on the current political agenda during his party’s parliamentary caucus.
In his speech, Özel extended his well wishes following a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Marmaris in Muğla, and commemorated poet Nâzım Hikmet on the 62nd anniversary of his death.
Stating that the country’s economy has become unsustainable, Özel compared the purchasing power of the minimum wage and pension in 2002 and 2025 based on the cost of a sacrificial ram, traditionally slaughtered on the Eid al-Adha (kurban bayramı).
Özel noted that the holiday bonus for pensioners was recently announced as “good news” and said, “When it was first introduced in 2018, a pensioner could buy a sacrificial ram and 25 kilograms of meat for 1,000 lira. Today, with 4,000 lira, you can only buy 4 kilos of meat. Just one leg of the ram.”
Evaluating the May inflation figures announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), Özel said:
“According to TURKSTAT, inflation since the start of the year is 15.1 percent, but according to ENAG, it's 24 percent. Annual inflation is 35 percent according to TURKSTAT, and 71 percent according to ENAG. If an item that cost 100 lira last year now costs 135, TURKSTAT is right. If it costs 170, ENAG is right. I ask everyone at the market, ‘How much did you sell children's clothes for last year? 200 lira. This year? 300 lira.’ No one reports inflation below 100 percent at the market.”
“We will continue to resist”
Recalling his visits to DİSK, TİSK, HAK-İŞ, and TÜRK-İŞ to discuss the demand for a mid-year raise to the minimum wage, Özel said labor representatives emphasized the need for an inflation adjustment.
Özel reiterated that his party proposed a minimum wage of 30,000 lira, but it was set at 22,104 lira. He continued:
“Now they plan not to make a mid-year raise in July. This is outright exploitation of workers’ labor and sweat. Similarly, they adjusted pensions based on expectations to 12,500 or 14,500 lira just to match inflation figures. In a situation where purchasing power is zeroed and pensioners’ income falls below half the hunger threshold, a realistic flat-rate raise for pensioners and a mid-year raise for the minimum wage are essential. I call out to all minimum wage earners and pensioners: We will not stop. We will continue to take to the squares, fight for justice, stand up for those wronged, defend your rights, and fight for fairness in income, taxes, the market, and the kitchen.”
Addressing President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Özel urged: “Step out of that hall, walk the streets, visit the markets, talk to shopkeepers. Face the people, witness the unemployment, poverty, and inflation.”
“Today’s victims are tomorrow’s rulers”
“It’s been 76 days since the March 19 coup,” said Özel, defending that the accusations against Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was removed from his role as Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor, remain unproven.
He criticized the public display of those detained in the fifth wave of operations during their transfer for medical check-ups and to court, claiming it was “a campaign to discredit them.”
“We’ve seen this movie before,” Özel said, likening the current events to coups and emphasizing that “today’s victims will be tomorrow’s rulers.”
“Nothing in 210 days”
Recalling former Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s statement about former Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek – “They sold it parcel by parcel” – Özel said:
“According to FETÖ confessions, ‘We bought land, told Melih Gökçek, he would increase the zoning value, we’d sell it, pay the land’s debt, and send the profit to Pennsylvania.’ Financing the organization. Gökçek was involved in it all. FETÖ is gone, he remains. One of his sons runs a sports club, while the other owns a TV channel. It’s proven that he’s building a 600-million-lira villa. His son neither denies it nor says anything else. Yet, while all this is out in the open, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor keeps attacking the honor, dignity, and families of our people based solely on the testimony of three secret witnesses. ‘There will be evidence.’ ‘There is none.’ You’ve been digging for 210 days since you were appointed to find something on Mayor Ekrem, and there’s still nothing.”
“Bring it on”
Reiterating his view that the process since March 19 constitutes a “civilian coup,” Özel said, “Every coup has a plan. This one’s plan was on March 18 with the diploma annulment, March 19 with two lawsuit, and five waves. The plan is clear. The executors are three prosecutors, three judges, and three secret witnesses. And behind this junta is a leader,” pointing to Erdoğan.
Referring to the indictment prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office alleging electoral fraud at CHP’s 38th Ordinary Congress in November 2023, he stated: “We will neither hand over Atatürk’s party to a trustee nor surrender it through judicial tricks.”
Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office alleges fraud in CHP's 38th Convention
Concluding his speech, the CHP leader said:
“The previous trustee was sitting at the cafe across the street. Just as we sent him away right before 5 o’clock, any man trying to take over Atatürk’s party without an election will be pushed back by our 2 million members. Period. We are here, leading our party. We are the leading party for the first time in 47 years, and we are Erdoğan’s main target. Let it be known to friends and foes alike: We will not surrender. We will win. Erdoğan will go, and the Republican People's Party will stay. Bring it on, bring it on, bring it on.”
(VC/DT)
