Özgür Özel invia l’ultimatum al governatore di Istanbul: se ti provochi questa piazza stasera, gas solo un giovane o un attacco, cambierò i nostri piani per i giorni seguenti. Chiamerei 500 mila nel posto che ti infastiderà di più

# Özgür Özel’s Speech at Saraçhane

Özgür Özel addressed the crowd at **Saraçhane**, delivering a fiery speech in response to recent detentions and arrests, particularly that of **İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu**.

He directly challenged the **Governor of Istanbul**, saying:

*”I am addressing the Governor of Istanbul. Until this square is empty, until everyone is safely home, my MPs are there, and I am standing on this vehicle. Go ahead, fire that tear gas! Shoot that rubber bullet! If you hit even one of our young people with a baton tonight, if you fire tear gas, if you shoot a single rubber bullet—whoever does not stand up to you is a coward! Enough is enough! Neither your words nor your oaths can be trusted. If you have lost this much sense of humanity, Governor, then you are the real marginal one. I am declaring this here: If you provoke this square tonight, if you attack with gas and violence, I will change our plans for the coming days. I will call for* ***500,000 people*** *to gather in the place that will bother you the most!”*

# Journalists Arrested

Özel condemned the detention of **11 journalists**, **7 of whom have already been arrested**, including:

* **Yasin Akgül** (AFP photojournalist)
* **Ali Onur Tosun** (Now Haber reporter)
* **Bülent Kılıç** (photojournalist)
* **Zeynep Kuray** (journalist)
* **Kurtuluş Arı** (İBB photojournalist)
* **Gökhan Kam** (Bakırköy Municipality photojournalist)
* **Hayri Tunç** (journalist)

He also mentioned **Berkay Gezgin**, known for his slogan **”Everything will be beautiful, Ekrem Abi”**, who was also arrested.

According to Özel, the detained journalists were first taken to court, but then **returned to police headquarters because Istanbul’s prisons were already full**. Plans were reportedly being made to **transfer them to neighboring provinces**.

*”They have arrested so many students and journalists that there is no space left in prison! Tayyip Bey needs to understand something: We do not shrink because of detentions and arrests—we grow!”*

This is what bravery looks like.