Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu answered İsmail Küçükkaya's questions on Halk TV, days before the critical election.
İmamoğlu talked about a montage video made for him. Imamoglu said, "I am explaining for the first time".
The second round of the presidential election will go to the polls this Sunday.
Before the critical elections, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, answered İsmail Küçükkaya's questions on Halk TV.
"We carried out a process without any contempt for it. President of a country 'But assembly, but this, but this'... You made it seem real. Can't defend now. What kind of greed is this? What a black heart is this. It's not going to happen. You put our president in the same frame with the terrorist organization, then you leave 'but assembly'... God's justice is great. Even if we said it a thousand times, we couldn't tell a part of our nation. Now he has confessed. We are in Konya for a meeting when I was the Mayor of Beylikdüzü. We went to the mosque together, I had surgery on my knee. We sat at the entrance of the mosque, I said I will sit down. Azan was read. The preacher finished his work, at that time suras from the Qur'an began to be read. Half an hour… People started to grumble. Why doesn't the prayer start... Imam said, 'Let me know if the gentleman has arrived'. Who is the gentleman? Son of the President. They made the congregation wait for 35 minutes. I have witnesses. I am telling this for the first time. I have experienced the mufti who did not give an imam to the mosque because a CHP mayor built a mosque. They destroyed sincere piety," İmamoğlu said.
"I WENT CRAZY WHEN I SEE THIS IMAGE THAT HURT ME"
"There is a refugee section in our country, their arrival is registered... Also, there is no border left, people like herds, but unfortunately they flock to our country from the east, but from the south. The image of people fleeing persecution is different. In that image, they are all men and boys aged 1-20, stacked against a door. What image is this? All of them are an image, whatever we can say on behalf of refugees, asylum seekers. Look, this won't happen, you can't turn this country into a warehouse. I went crazy when I saw this image that hurt me. I go to many places, this is the first reaction: 'Save us from these people...'We have heaped these people in this country without question. They can't even give bears themselves anymore. I wrote for months as a number, a number. We see the number of water consumption in this city from this or that, you will dump refugees here. What does the current Minister say, 'We cannot send the Syrians, God will burn us," he added.
'THE BASE OF THIS ELECTION IS THE FREEDOM OF NEWSPAPERS'
"I have no political ambition. People give you a seat, they say it is entrusted to you. This is how I do my job. Do you know what this mind says? I became the owner of this seat, I won't give it away... These people are now blinded by greed for the seat, or the things they have to account for have grown, they can't handle it anymore. Ministers did not say a word about Kanal Istanbul. You are zoning a kiosk in Üsküdar, probably because you have received instructions from someone. You can see how the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization will issue. The person who sent five or six riot police there and made my dear policeman keep his head bowed, is that kiosk... They kept watch there for 4-5 days. We insisted and destroyed. Fugitive... To save the fugitive, they made a development there through the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. Do you know why I'm telling you this? If this power comes, they will plunder Istanbul. They pass through Canal Istanbul, they pass the straits. These nails are out and they will do anything for their power. Our institutions have degenerated. I saw Kızılay in the earthquake, we saw AFAD. They made AFAD unable to serve its nation at a critical moment. This is the system of this country right now, everyone is looking up, I wonder what their opinion is on this issue. Whoever I talk to about an important issue, he says talk to them. This system is a troublesome system for this country. This system needs to be disposed of immediately. Even citizens who say they love the AK Party should throw this system away. For him, this election is the choice of the system, this election is a regime change. This election is not just an election that Mr. Erdogan should go, Mr. Erdogan should go. The basis of this election is the freedom of newspapers and journalists, İmamoğlu said.