CHP Chairperson and Presidential Candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu Attended Iftar Meeting in Çanakkale

CHP Chairperson and Presidential Candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu:

- "What we need most today is justice. If one of our children goes to bed hungry, we should know that all children in this country are hungry. If a family is in the dark because they cannot pay their electricity debt, we should know that all families are in the dark. Therefore, we must grow our solidarity culture, be together, be together and be strong."

- "Don't ever say, 'I am busy on the 14th of this month, 14th of May, I should not go to the polling stations'. Go to the polling station, and cast your vote. I only ask one thing: think with your conscience and vote accordingly. Don't vote for those who violate the rights of servants and friends. My dear brothers and sisters, don't vote for those who do the right thing."

- "Politics is not a means of turning the corner. Politics is a means of serving the people. You grow, and you fulfil your duty when you serve the people. For this reason, we accept serving the people as a sacred duty like serving God."

Republican People's Party Chairperson and Nation Alliance Presidential Candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu attended the street iftar organised in Barbaros Neighbourhood in Çanakkale.

CHP Chairman and Presidential Candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said the following in his speech here:

Bon appetit to all of you. If you have a pure heart, all your prayers will be accepted because the Almighty Creator is on the side of goodness, beauty, justice, and fairness, and He advises us all to do justice so that there will be justice, love and tolerance in this world.

We, too, want to live in peace in this country, in a country like heaven; we want to live together, be friends, share our painful days, and share our joyful days. Therefore, we have to experience all the beauties of being together, being united, that is, being united in sorrow and joy. But, unfortunately, we have polarised too much; we have come to the point of fighting, and we have started questioning each other's identities and beliefs. Turkey needs to get out of this position. We have to respect everyone's identity, everyone's beliefs, everyone's lifestyle. Therefore, our problem is that if a young person is unemployed and cannot find a job, the issue of politics is to solve that problem; the duty is to solve that problem. Therefore, when we do these things, we will build a more tolerant society with a developed culture of solidarity that shares sorrows and joys.

There are women's rights and violence against women, which hurts us deeply, and I hope we will end it together. There should be no violence in this country; on the contrary, we are trying to build a Turkey where love is dominant.

Justice... Mevlana says, 'Justice is like a pole star, like a fixed position, but the whole universe revolves around it.' Therefore, justice is such a noble concept. In a sense, the history of humanity is the history of the struggle for justice since the time of Adam. Therefore, in almost every period of human history, people have expressed their desire for justice and demanded justice. Today, what we need the most is justice. If one of our children goes to bed hungry, we should know that all children in this country are hungry. If a family is in the dark because they cannot pay their electricity debt, we should understand that all families are in the dark. Therefore, we must expand our solidarity culture, be together, be united and be strong.

I ask this from you. Never say, 'I am busy on the 14th of this month, the 14th of May, I should not go to the polling stations'. Go to the polling stations, and cast your vote. There is only one thing I want; think with your conscience and cast your vote. I will repeat it; I have said it many times; let me repeat it; do not vote for those who violate the rights of servants, my friends. My dear brothers and sisters, don't vote for the one who does wrong. If wrongdoing is the greatest sin, the Almighty Creator says so, 'it is the greatest sin', do not vote for those who commit this great sin. Because if violating the right of the servant, if violating a person's right is the greatest sin, we need to keep those who are instrumental in that sin, those who commit that sin, away from us a little bit.

Two thousand four hundred years ago, Plato, a sage raised by these lands, said, 'If those who govern the country become rich during their rule, they protect their own rights, not the rights of the citizens. Because they try to protect their own ae consider doing the people as a sacred duty, like serving God.

We have friends, brothers and sisters who are earthquake victims, myself, Mr Mansur and my fellow mayors were there from the second day of the earthquake; I spent two nights in the earthquake zone - I know very well what they went through. It is impossible to describe the pain; only those who experienced the earthquake can describe it. We are trying to heal their wounds altogether; as a society, all of our hearts beat there; we all prayed to see if one more person could be saved. Therefore, we showed our culture of solidarity. Now, God willing, when we come to power, you will see; we will rebuild their destroyed houses, shops, and barns from scratch and deliver them all to them without taking even a penny. Not even 1 cent.

Why am I saying this? The reason is this... When a person like you buys an apartment or a shop in Çanakkale, you sign a single signature on the title deed and buy it. But before that shop or that flat is sold, 43 people sign 23 different documents. All of them are public officials; there are architects, engineers, and geophysical engineers, they all sign; they all sign under it, 'The building is solid.' Well, as a citizen, I am not an architect, I am not an engineer, I am not anything; the state says that it was built according to this regulation, and everything is in its place, so I put my signature on the title deed. The state says; this building is strong, the shop is solid, so I go and buy it. Then, if the building collapses, the responsibility does not belong to the person who purchased the shop or the flat. According to the constitution, the fault lies with the administration that fails to supervise. In this context, I have a promise to my earthquake victims; they will see that we will build their shops, we will build their houses, we will deliver all of them, and we will fulfil the requirements of the social state without taking a penny. Brothers and sisters, don't forget this, I will go... Mansur mayor, are we going to Adıyaman tomorrow? Tomorrow we are going to Adıyaman, and I will tell the same thing to my brothers from Adıyaman, I will say to them the same thing. 'We built the building, and it was rotten; we sold it to you, sir, we will build you a new building, and you will pay in 20 years instalments...' You are the one who said the building was solid, and I bought the building because you said it was solid; now the building has collapsed, I will build a building for you, and I will sell it to you again. What sin do I have? What sin do I have? That's why I said.

I trust in the will of the people, I trust in the wisdom of the people, we will all go to the polling stations together, and we will cast our votes. We will rebuild a new Turkey, a beautiful Turkey, a moral Turkey, a just Turkey.

Thank you all, thank you all, goodbye, goodbye.