CHP Leader and Presidential Candidate Kılıçdaroğlu in Kocaeli: Defence Industry is a National Issue; There is No Rightist, Leftist or Moderate"

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairperson and Presidential Candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu attended a rally in Kocaeli today together with IYI Party Chairperson Meral Akşener and Ankara Metropolitan Mayor Mansur Yavaş. CHP leader and Presidential Candidate Kılıçdaroğlu said the following in his speech at the rally:

- "They opened city hospitals, closed the hospitals in the city centres, and you cannot go to the hospital; you have to go to a hospital in a distant place. But, I promise you, as Mr Kemal, those hospitals will be reopened."

- "I promised to all young people and women working in rural areas. We will pay your social security premiums as the state. You work, produce, earn, gain, sweat off the brow, and we will pay your social security premiums as the state. In addition, the women working in rural areas will have the right to a pension."

- "When we come to power, you will see, I will end this feeding problem in the schools. Children will go to school and drink water and milk and eat food there with their friends. No one will pay any price. The child will be fed and come home with a full stomach. There will be no worries about what to put in the lunch box or whether there will be anything today. If a state cannot care for its children, it is not a social state. A social state is a state that stands by the side of the poor."

- "I have a promise to this nation... We will make Atatürk Airport into Atatürk Space Studies Centre. We have two Turks working in America—the biggest company in the space industry after Elon Musk. I sat down and talked to them and asked them if they could come and help us in a centre we will establish for the development of the space industry in Turkey if they could open a workplace here. Today, a Turk working at NASA phoned me from the USA and said, 'If you do this, I will leave NASA and come and work in that space centre. They cannot catch up with our dreams."

- "They say, 'Sir, they will destroy UAVs and UCAVs when they come to power...' There is no such thing! Why should we destroy them? There is logic and reason. Whoever works harder, we will give all kinds of support. Whoever produces more, we will give all kinds of support. The defence industry is a national issue. It is not a matter of any party. There is no rightist, leftist or centrist in a national issue; a national issue is essential."