YENİ Party’s Özçağdaş: “Üsküdar Is Not a Morsel You Can Swallow”

“Üsküdar is not a morsel you can swallow,” YENİ Party Istanbul lawmaker Suat Özçağdaş said ahead of the second election for Üsküdar’s municipal deputy mayor. He said his colleagues would be at the municipality at 9 a.m. the next day, regardless of what happened.

Özçağdaş described Üsküdar as going through a difficult period. He said Mayor Sinem Dedetaş won 157,000 votes, compared with 133,000 for her closest rival, Hilmi Türkmen. He argued that the result showed a large majority of Üsküdar residents wanted a new beginning.

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Üsküdar is not a morsel you can swallow. So do whatever you want, tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. our colleagues will be there. We are here. We did not win Üsküdar easily.

He accused the government of using legal interventions across Turkey and said similar pressure had reached Üsküdar. According to Özçağdaş, Turkey’s elected mayors do not govern 44% of the country’s population, even though the current political term has not yet reached its third year.

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As Üsküdar, we are going through a difficult period.

Özçağdaş said the municipal council began with 28 members. One member had not returned to office, four had switched sides through pressure, threats or offers, and two others had been detained and then arrested. He said the opposition was left with 23 members and remained ahead.

He also compared the legal treatment of Dedetaş with cases involving President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his own time as a mayor. Özçağdaş said his colleagues had refused to license illegal construction, while Erdoğan had previously said his municipality generated revenue by licensing illegal buildings. The article ends during his remarks about Erdoğan’s past legal cases.

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The current government does not like good work.