We are going through one of the most painful periods in our political and social history. However, these pains are not merely a reaction to what is happening, to lawlessness, injustice, poverty, and hopelessness. These are the birth pangs of a new beginning. We are experiencing the labor pains of a new, peaceful, and happy era.

We have faced difficult times before. This nation has witnessed politicians, elected by the people’s legitimate votes, being executed, imprisoned, and stripped of their powers by force.

There was a common thread in those previous difficult times: they all occurred during military coup periods. Today, however, this nation is witnessing something unprecedented.

For the first time, an elected President, whose sole source of political legitimacy should be the people, is subjecting other elected officials, children of this nation, chosen by legitimate votes, to the same treatment once reserved for coup plotters.


For the first time, an elected official is attacking other elected officials using the state’s police, judiciary, media, and all its institutions. One elected official is acting as a prosecutor against others, using phrases like “the breaking point” and “the big reveal.” He becomes aware of a case file that should only be accessible to the relevant prosecutor, declares his opponents guilty, dictates the decisions he wants the judiciary to make, and even issues orders.

What we are all witnessing are actions that constitute an open injustice against Türkiye and its people. Because it is evident, through all economic and financial data, that these anti-democratic choices serve poverty, not prosperity. A politician who needs the favor of the people would never approve actions and decisions that harm the people.

This shows that the current President and the small circle around him no longer feel the need for the people’s favor.

This is a danger that can no longer be hidden. The second danger is the effort to erode the people’s love, care, and respect for their state. As a nation, we must stand against this.

There was another common feature of previous coups: they all came with the intention of leaving. They knew they were temporary. They knew the people would not surrender their will to them, and they all left. Politics always returned, and the people never allowed the desires of coup plotters to prevail. Whoever the coup plotters tried to impose on the people, it never worked. The people held on to their right to determine their destiny and never followed the path drawn by the coup plotters.

Our political history has seen many coups and tutelage structures. This time, we are facing a tutelage center that is trying to legitimize its coup through the judiciary. This time, we are facing a structure that attacks recklessly, not with the intention of leaving, but with the intention of staying.

This time, we are facing more than just a mindset trying to stop its opponents at the ballot box or win one more election. This time, we are facing a regime-building effort that seeks to end politics and political competition forever.

This time, we are facing a mindset that has embraced a civilian coup to achieve its goals, that has rendered the judiciary ineffective, discredited it, made it unreliable, and turned it into a tool of harassment and operations.
This mindset, which tries to govern the country through a judiciary it seeks to exploit, has no hesitation in imposing great economic, social, and psychological costs on our nation.

If, in this painful period, the ambitions of one individual and the system he is trying to establish succeed, it must be known that the goal of crowning the Republic with democracy, a struggle that has been ongoing for 105 years, will be eliminated, and our country will fall off a cliff.

If this oligarchic structure succeeds, our country will lose its pluralistic democracy based on democratic competition. The people’s freedom to choose will be taken away, the people will lose, and our future will be plunged into darkness.

Today, the people are rising to protect their will, driven by these concerns and fears for the future. The people are not rising just for Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Our nation is rising to protect the Republic and democracy, which are the guarantees of its freedom and independence, as entrusted to it by history. The people are rising for their freedom, for democracy, for justice, and for prosperity.


The people are rising to give those who steal their freedom, the powers of their elected representatives, and their hard-earned rights: diplomas, deeds, money, property, the lesson they deserve. The people are rising to put those who abuse the authority granted by the people in their place and to take back the power they have given.

The people are rising to send back those who dare to enslave them to dominant nations, just as they brought them in. The people are rising to reject servitude, to run confidently toward the place they deserve in the 21st century with their youth. The people are rising with the labor pains of building a new, peaceful, happy, just, and democratic life.

The government did not want to see an opponent before the elections. They were preparing to do today what they are doing now, right before the elections. They planned to disrupt the opposition’s candidate selection process just before the elections, to paralyze the opposition by keeping it occupied with internal tensions. Their goal was to confuse citizens and convince them that they had no alternatives, that they were stuck with the government.

When the CHP decided to select a candidate and announced that it would do so through a primary with the broadest participation, their plans were disrupted, their games were spoiled. The CHP acted quickly to select a candidate and save the country from being dragged off a cliff because our country no longer had a single day to lose.

This decision could not be left to political elites. Both the primary announced by our Chairman and the candidate’s legitimacy had to come from the broadest decision-making authority. It had to be a participatory decision-making process. Our nation had to own the decision. Those who thought the Turkish people only participated in politics at the ballot box believed that very few people would turn out for the primary and that my candidacy would lack legitimacy. They hoped for this.

When the decision to select a candidate through a primary disrupted their plans, our opponents devised a scheme without considering the people’s will. They thought they could leave the people without options and make themselves unrivaled by activating sham trials. Using baseless accusations and secret witnesses, methods borrowed from their former allies, they had me and my colleagues detained and arrested. But in doing so, their mask fell off, and their true face was revealed.

Our people saw this dirty game, understood what was coming, and realized with their sharp insight that what was at stake was not just a political rival but the people’s will itself. That’s when the people rose to show who truly holds the power, the authority, and the decision-making.

Here’s the translation of the text, maintaining the tone and style we’ve used for Ekrem İmamoğlu’s speeches, ensuring it reflects the emotional weight and rhetorical power of the original:

“The People Have Risen: A Revolution of Democracy Has Begun”

This nation, often described as only participating in politics during elections, first showed that it is the true owner of Saraçhane, filling the squares with growing crowds for days. Then, on March 23, in a single day, with 15.5 million votes, it demonstrated to this government, one that has forgotten the people, that it would not leave them unchallenged in the electoral race. Thus, it declared the beginning of a revolution of democracy that will go down in the history of Türkiye and the world.

The fears, anxieties, and hopelessness of society transformed day by day, step by step, from Saraçhane to Maltepe, into courage, hope, excitement, and a will for change. Once again, the people took their destiny into their own hands and showed that they would chart their own course and would not surrender.

Those who interpret this stance, this determination, this will as a mere temporary reaction are mistaken. This is far more than a reaction to my arrest. The people have seen that what was done was not just against me but against themselves, and they have dismantled this dirty game. And not only have they dismantled it, but they have also begun to build a new life. They are now openly declaring how they want the future to be shaped.

Our people have shown that they will no longer walk alongside those who seek to use the authority taken from them for longer and more ambitious terms of power. After repelling this threat and pushing back this coup, they are also signaling who they will walk with in the future. The most important message they are giving us is that they will now participate in decisions more actively and effectively. They are saying, “If you eliminate the checks and balances of the state and government, if you make yourself unaccountable, I will come and balance you, I will hold you accountable.”

For this reason, we now need to think beyond the ballot boxes that the people visit only during elections. We need to establish new mechanisms for participation.

In our new life, we must strengthen the mechanisms through which the people determine their own future. We need a democracy that is empowered by an active and strong civil society, autonomous universities, an objective and fair media loyal to professional ethics and principles, and effective consultation and negotiation mechanisms. Such an environment, where the people actively participate in decisions, will further democratize and strengthen the state. A more democratic state, in turn, will lay the foundation for the great development and growth initiative we have long yearned for.

All of this is only possible with a libertarian, pluralistic, and democratic parliamentary system.

To ensure that our country is never again handed over to the whims and ambitions of a single individual, we must establish checks and balances, diversify channels for citizen participation, and build the separation of powers in a clear and definitive manner.

We will achieve all of this through a revolution of justice and democracy. Together, we will create a transparent and accountable administration that serves the people, the true owners of the state.

With the revolution of justice and democracy that we will bring, we will increase the capacity of our youth to compete with their peers around the world. We will put an end to the emigration of our youth abroad, which is the greatest “existential threat” our country faces today. The children we have raised and nurtured with the resources of this nation for years will not serve other nations but will become devoted servants of their own people. We will not only liberate and empower them within the country but also make them the key actors in building a democratic and strong state.

Because a peaceful and prosperous society, with equal and free citizens, can only come to life through a democratic and strong state. The guarantee and safeguard of all this is a pluralistic, next-generation democracy where fair and civil competition takes place.

This is why our people have risen. They have started the revolution of democracy. Our people are standing with the labor pains of a new life. They are standing to protect the Republic, which will bring peace, prosperity, and justice, with a strong democracy. This noble nation, which has risen from its ashes in every crisis, is standing for a new birth. We will experience a revolution that will liberate and enrich our people, propel our country forward in the race of civilizations, and restore our state to being respected, trustworthy, and strong once again.

A revolution where no one loses, and every citizen feels free, happy, and dignified. Let no one worry—those days are near. Much nearer than anyone imagines!