Özgür Özel: “November 2025 is the date we made a call to Mr. Erdoğan.”

CHP Chairman Özgür Özel stated, “The Constitution says this: ‘If there is a decision for elections by 360 deputies, the current president can run for office one more time.’ The AK Party and MHP do not have the majority to achieve this together. They need us, the opposition. To reach the number 360, we have a sentence for them; right in the middle. Half of this controversial five years is yours, half is ours. If you decide for early elections in the 2.5th year, we are here, let’s renew the elections. After that, don’t come knocking on our door again.”

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel came to Kocaeli for various contacts. Özel first attended the “Labor Offices Academic Board Meeting” held at a hotel in Izmit.

“Kocaeli is the capital of labor”
Özgür Özel expressed that Kocaeli is the capital of labor, stating, “I had expressed my sadness about the three cities we could not win after the March 31 elections. One of these is Kocaeli, the other is Gaziantep, and the other is Samsun. These cities are very important in the history of the Republican People’s Party; they are cities that have been managed by us for years. It is unacceptable that we have increased the number of municipalities in Kocaeli from one to three.”

“We are heading towards power”
Noting that labor offices will operate across Turkey in the upcoming process, Özel said, “From now on, we will remember today as an important step we took towards giving the reward for labor, not just receiving it, with the labor struggle that started here in Kocaeli. The Republican People’s Party used to hold meetings with the consciousness of being an opposition party, standing by labor and obtaining its rights. However, now, in the upcoming process, we are discussing ‘How will we give the rights of labor?’, ‘How will we give the rights of workers?’, ‘How will we give the reward for hard work?’ because we are heading towards power, we are preparing for power. The labor office will once again set out today to improve living, working, and life conditions. The labor office is an important brand of the Republican People’s Party based on the past. Many valuable elders who have contributed to these offices in the past also attended this meeting. Countless names will contribute to the labor offices today, just as they did in the past. This time, the labor offices have been established in a process where they discuss how to prepare the Republican People’s Party’s power program during the power walk.”

“We are at the very beginning of the program work we have laid out on how to manage Turkey”
Stating that the CHP held one of the longest congresses in recent times between September 4-9, Özel said, “Just like in the 1930s and 1940s. We held a week-long congress. Our congress was called the ‘Congress of Change.’ And during our congress, almost unanimously in the commission, and with a significant consensus in the general assembly, most of the articles were approved with a majority, even the article with the most objections received 36 opposing votes out of 1300 votes, coming into effect with full consensus. Last week we reached consensus on how to manage the party. Then we held preparatory meetings for two days. Now we are at the very beginning of the program work we have laid out on how to manage Turkey. When we gather for our program congress in 6-8 months, we will prepare the Republican People’s Party’s program, which was written about 20 years ago and finalized in 2008, in a way suitable for the needs of the era, shorter, clearer, more readable, and more accessible, and we are in a process where our solution proposals, that is, our policy notes for each ministry and each area will emerge.”

“If you decide for early elections, we are here, let’s renew the elections”
Özgür Özel continued with his remarks:
“The Republican People’s Party is heading to power. November 2025 is the date we are calling Mr. Erdoğan. He was much debated in the past. Is this his 2nd term or 3rd term? Despite writing otherwise in the constitution, after the constitutional change, he referred to it as ‘our 2nd term.’ The Supreme Election Council endorsed this idea and made a decision in this direction. Even though he renewed the elections as president, he could run again. In this situation, if he makes an election decision during his 2nd term, he cannot run again. Very clear. According to the decision of the YSK, and in the process where he stated ‘we are candidates for the 2nd term,’ the constitution states: ‘If there is a decision for elections by 360 deputies, the current president can run for office one more time.’ The AK Party and MHP do not have the majority to achieve this together. They need us, the opposition. To reach the number 360, we have a sentence for them; right in the middle, half of this controversial five years is yours, half is ours. If you come to make an early election decision in the 2.5th year, we are here, let’s renew the elections. After that, don’t come knocking on our door again. This means that if Erdoğan has claims to run again, the deadline is November 2025. In the elections to be held in November 2025, we are candidates to save Turkey from all these troubles. This government, which cannot solve these problems, which does not end unemployment, which deepens poverty. If they still trust themselves, if their strongest candidate is still Mr. Erdoğan, let them come, and in the early elections in November 2025, let Turkey decide who will solve its troubles in the 2nd century. We say, ‘All your troubles have a remedy, and its name is the Republican People’s Party.’ We are here with this self-confidence. Now we have a period to test who shows self-confidence and who is running away from the nation. We will spend the first half of this year in the first phase of the process, writing the government program with our nation and explaining to our people how we will manage this country from now on, and the second phase will continue in the following six months.”
Özgür Özel stated that those working in labor offices will be active both at the desk and in the field.

“We will all see that this city will experience the greatest leaps towards the CHP’s power”
Emphasizing that Kocaeli is one of the three critical cities in their targets, Özel stated, “We consider it very important because it was one of the centers of the workers’ resistance that took place on June 15-16, 1970. We attach great importance to the first step being taken from Kocaeli. Kocaeli being the capital of labor and the CHP being a party that advocates this, I want to emphasize that Kocaeli will be a city that will honor the first step of this march in Turkey, where we will work to create a much happier Kocaeli, a much wealthier Kocaeli, where we will all gain and produce more, and share more fairly, rather than be a concern for employers in Kocaeli and those outside of workers. From now on, while labor offices are working in 81 cities, in 973 districts, and in many countries around the world, one foot will always be in Kocaeli like a compass. We will all see that this city will experience the greatest leaps towards the CHP’s power.”

“The Republican People’s Party is a party that is counting down for general power”
Özgür Özel continued his speech as follows:
“The Republican People’s Party is no longer an opposition party. We have long passed the process of deciding how to oppose, how to resist, and how to object. The Republican People’s Party is the number one party in Turkey. It has been so since its establishment. It is so in the last elections it participated in. It is so in terms of surveys. It is also so in the expectations on the ground and the social response it receives today. The Republican People’s Party is the number one party in Turkey, it is the ruling party. The Republican People’s Party is a party that is counting down for general power. We must complete this countdown process with great joy, enthusiasm, and not by savoring it but by working hard and putting our lives on the line. The burden is heavy. At the very least, a 22-year-old wreckage lies ahead of us.