In its advertising campaign for the upcoming local elections on March 31, the Good (İYİ) Party took a dig at the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), with the slogan, "You're not obliged to support those who open space for terrorism or engage in co-chair fights."
However, the party faced a setback as their posters in İstanbul, Ankara, and İzmir, whose municipalities are run by the CHP, couldn't make it to the advertising billboards.
The alliance between İYİ Party and CHP had come to an end after their defeat in the general elections in May, and İYİ Party decided to contest the municipal elections with its own candidates.
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During today's parliamentary group meeting, İYİ Party leader Meral Akşener revealed that the advertising company they had an agreement with had backtracked, citing a call from İstanbul as the reason. She accused İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu of censorship, stating, "It's not Beştepe [Presidential Complex] trying to hinder us but Saraçhane [Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality]."
"Everyone has problems with us"
"It seems that everyone in politics, regardless of their views, is very uncomfortable with us. The government has been uncomfortable with us since the day we were founded; we already knew that. Members of HDP [Peoples' Democratic Party], now DEM Party, have always been uncomfortable with us; we knew that too. Lately, we have clearly seen that the main opposition party is also very uncomfortable with us.
"Today, someone wants us to run an election campaign without billboards, but this time, unlike before, the obstacle in front of us is not the ruling party but the main opposition. Those who want to censor us are not the palace [Presidential Complex] but the municipality. Those trying to hinder us are not Beştepe [Presidential Complex] but Saraçhane [İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality]!
"For the first stage of our local election campaign, we prepared billboard visuals with four slogans:
"First; 'You're not obliged to succumb to the pressure of one-man rule or the co-chair fight.'
"Second; 'You're not obliged to those who wage war against the Republic or open space for terrorism.'
"Third; 'You're not obliged to partisan media or comrade media.'
"Fourth; 'You're not obliged to those who call you a traitor or ignorant.'"
"We signed an agreement with a company and rented billboards in Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir. Our billboards were supposed to be hung last Sunday and visible on the streets on Monday. However, strangely, the photos of our printed billboards were taken and sent to someone. Then, a call came to the company from Istanbul. Do you know what was said on the phone? 'You will not hang these.' Moreover, not only in İstanbul but they won't be hung in Ankara and Izmir either. Does this intimidation tactic sound familiar to you?" (HA/VK)
