Özgür Özel speaks from YENİ Party headquarters after first leadership meeting

“The people brought us here,” Özgür Özel said after chairing the first Political Council meeting at YENİ Party’s headquarters.

Özel opened his remarks by addressing a passenger-ship accident in Girne. He said the party had immediately assigned a six-member delegation, led by parliamentary group deputy chairman Ali Mahir Başarır and including lawmakers from Antalya, Adana and Mersin, to work both on the island and in Silifke.

Retired Rear Admiral Yankı Bağcıoğlu had been consulting officials about search-and-rescue operations, Özel said. He added that Ambassador Namık Tan was in regular contact with the Turkish ambassador to Cyprus, while Tufan Erhürman, leader of the party’s sister organization CTP, had been providing regular updates. Özel said the party was also following briefings from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Northern Cyprus President Ersin Tatar, as well as the prime minister.

Özel said his party would not comment on the accident before the funerals. He expressed hope that missing people would be found alive, while saying the deaths and possible deaths had deeply saddened everyone. He added that the circumstances and responsibility should be investigated fully after the funerals, with those responsible held accountable before the law and the public.

He then turned to the party’s internal work at its newly opened headquarters. The Founders’ Council, Political Council and parliamentary group were meeting in succession, with young reserve members of the Political Council also taking part. Özel said YENİ Party had not arrived through political engineering, private calculations or closed-door planning, but through public belief, struggle and hope. He said people had grown tired of endless political disputes, recurring faces and unchanged forms of government.

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The people brought us here.