Now on bbc news President Trump is accused of racism after telling a group Zeinab Badawi speaks to the mayor of istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu of ethnic minority congresswomen that they should go back on hardtalk. To where they came from. Welcome to hardtalk, with me, Zeinab Badawi in istanbul. My guest today is the new mayor as the Iran Nuclear Deal slowly unravels and europeans seek of the city, ekrem . Mamo . Lu. To reduce rising tensions the bbc gets rare access inside the country. My guest today is the new mayor by pulling out of the nuclear deal, donald trump strengthened irans of the city, Ekrem Imamoglu. He dealt a massive setback to the hardliners who say that america should never have been trusted Ruling Ak Party when he defeated in the first place. Their candidate not once but twice when there was a rerun of the election. President erdogan once said whoever wins istanbul wins turkey. The city and its budget has been and england win the mens is Ekrem Imamoglu now the man in the hands of the ak party in one cricket world cup for the first way or another, time, beating new zealand in its present and past form, for the past 25 years. In a thrilling final. We did it jof delivered its a budget of about 9 billion. We did it to watch in turkish politics . Jofra delivered you said after your first 17 days in office, when you won the first run of the election on march the 31st, that you found a lot of evidence mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, of squandering of public funds. Welcome to hardtalk. What did you discover . Are you surprised that youre sitting here in the Mayors Office . It is, after all, the first time in 25 years that your chp party has won this position. Your party leader kemal k l cdaro lu today the victor is democracy, thats when you won, and he said, the whole world that believes in democracy is proud of turkey. But i have to say that the ak party so the Ruling Ak Party, has categorically denied claims that president erdogan, your party are suggesting are its awarded lucrative good democrats, they contracts to businesses close didnt rig the election . To the government, and this is one of the things that has been circulating after you came to office. I just want to make sure that that denial is there. But you dont have much experience, do you, to deal with all these political manoeuvrings that youre going to have to get a grip of . I mean, you were, after all, just mayor of a district what kind of precautions in istanbul, and youre did you take . Going to really have to try to unpick this system of patronage and influence thats been built up over many years by the ak party. Do you have experience . Are you up to it . President erdogan has described you, despite your victory, as a lame duck. Hes right, isnt he . But youre dealing with the realities of whats going on. So, for example, canan kaftancioglu, who leads the Istanbul Branch of the chp party, is i tell you what he means by it. Appearing in court over i mean, yes, you won 54 of the vote against your opponent. Allegations dating back just let me finish saying this, yes, to five or six years, comments that she posted on social media which allegedly say that she criticised you won 54 of the vote. President erdogan and the state. Binali yildirim from the ak party, i mean, youve condemned this, calling it a political threat, your opponent, only got 46 . But its going ahead. Thats the kind of reality however, the Ruling Ak Party has 25 of the 39 districts in istanbul. You have to deal with. They also have the majority of the seats on the municipal council, and of course overall control of the country. 00 04 23,290 4294966103 13 29,430 thats why youre a lame duck. Are you going to speak up just on behalf of your Party Members like kaftancioglu, or are you also going to extend your comments about the 132 journalists and media workers who are currently in prison across turkey, thats according to the Turkish Union ofjournalists. So you use her example as a way of exemplifying what you believe is this general concern aboutjournalists and media workers being imprisoned in turkey . So lets look at what you have to do here in istanbul. Youre in your late 405, youve come from a relatively comfortable background. You know, your family have a construction company. You had a very, very small restaurant, cafe, which sold kebabs and so on, so do you understand the fact that people are struggling in istanbul . That theres 25 youth unemployment, inflation obviously across turkey is extremely high. The turkish lira has seen its value drop dramatically. Can you really empathise with those people who cant afford the cost of living . Thats the strength of the ak party, which is why its been so successful electorally. For example, one resident, ak Party Supporter in istanbul, dilber geckin, said, we are poor and they, the ak party, help us. We are diehard supporters and we will never change. 46 of the vote for the ak Party Candidate to become mayor, thats very substantial. Not irrelevant, thats the point im making. Finding jobs is a key plank of your vision to improve life for the people in istanbul, but you have also talked about employment, linked to the presence of Syrian Refugees in istanbul. Official figures say there are about 600,000 Syrian Refugees in istanbul, you say the figure is more like one million. This is what you said about the Syrian Refugees and their impact on istanbul. A refugee must be isolated, in a camp if its necessary, or he must be re educated. Some of our people lost theirjobs. Employment rates have dropped down because of informally working refugees. Why did you say that . Do you regret the fact there have been clashes between turkish citizens and Syrian Refugees . Do you regret that, because its been happening in istanbul . Do you regret that . Of course, youre unhappy. Mr mayor, i put it to you, you have said, for example, you cannot read the sign boards in certain quarters. This is turkey, this is istanbul. Youve made that kind of comment. And a turkish news website, ahva, has said this about you, in dismissing a significant portion of his citys residents by this rhetorical exclusion, the mayor risks fanning the flames of social unrest. You have done that, havent you . But what is the problem with signboards in arabic . Do you have no problem with the arabic language . Why is it disturbing to have a sign in arabic in districts where there is large concentrations of Syrian Refugees . You are a committed muslim. Turkey is a predominantly Muslim Country and arabic is the language of the koran, you are a committed muslim, you pray, you fast, do you have a problem with arabic . Your party, the chp, the republicans, established by Mustafa Kemal ataturk in the picture there, it gave rise to the secular constitution of turkey, and obviously there are many committed muslims, conservatives, traditionalists in turkey. How are you going to win over those who are proud of their Islamic Heritage practice . They dont necessarily want to see a very secular turkey. And as ates ilyas bassoy, chp strategist, says, said we cannot change erdogan. We fight by changing ourselves. So, are you going to become more successful on the National Stage by becoming more more like the ak party, more aware of your Islamic Heritage and perhaps toning down the secular elements of the chp . Thats what you said, we need to add a religious flavou r, and thats the point im making. Its also one thats been echoed by mustafa akyol, an independent writer. The chp is finally getting religion. A Political Party that does not understand this fact is doomed. Religious flavour, what do you mean by that . Youve got a big mountain to climb, you know, when you had this stunning victory in istanbul when everybody said 0h, look, this might be the beginning of the end for president president erdogan and the ak party. but the chp hasnt had a majority government since 1950. In the election in 1999, your party failed to win a single seat. Muharrem ince, who stood against president erdogan for the chp won just 30 of the vote compared to the 52 52. 5 that erdogan won. Youve got a long way to go before youre relevant. The chp published a pamphlet called radical love. You have said during the campaign a neighbour who doesnt think like you, just give them a hug, show them that walls can be torn down with love. I like hugging, nobody will escape our hugs. Is that your platform to launch yourself on the National Stage . Go around hugging everybody . Finally, 2023, the next president ial elections. Could we see you stand as a candidate for your party, the chp . Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. Thank you. Thank you, youre welcome. Hello. Theres some warmth and some sunshine to start this forecast by the end, well see some rain for many. More on that in a moment. Heres how monday shapes up, an area of High Pressure centred over the uk, for now keeping atlantic fronts at bay. And a good deal of sunshine through monday morning. There will be more cloud across northern scotland, shetland in particular and also across eastern counties of england. That cloud quite stubborn before to thin and break. But some bright or sunny spells coming through. Elsewhere, after a sunny start, some fair weather cloud developing, so sunny spells for the second half of the day, but aside from an isolated shower, dry, pleasantly warm, 20 21; celsius the top temperature, a little bit cooler for northern scotland and eastern coasts. Fine and dry evening for many, some high cloud arriving into Northern Ireland and western scotland and by dawn on tuesday were looking temperatures typically between 10 14 celsius, not quite as cool as the nights over the weekend. Then we keep some warmth and sunshine across a large swathe of england and wales on tuesday, but this weak front pushing its way across Northern Ireland and eventually into scotland will bring more cloud. Also some showery outbreaks of rain initially across Northern Ireland and then into western scotland and some of those showers just working their way a little bit further north and eastwards throughout the day. Cant rule out one or two across Northern England and north wales most places across england and wales on tuesday will be mainly dry with some warmer sunshine again, 23 25 celsius the top temperature, a little bit cooler towards Northern Ireland and scotland, i9 2i celsius here. For the middle of the week, weve got a more active front starting to push in from the atlantic, taking its time, it may not be until the afternoon that it arrives into scotland. Ahead of it, were Still Holding onto the warmth across much of england and wales and a strengthening breeze across Northern Ireland and scotland a sign of things to come. So some rain settling into Northern Ireland and parts of scotland through the day on wednesday, timings may well change. High cloud moving into parts of wales and South West England but ahead of it is where well see the best of the sunshine. Winds still quite light here, but they start to strengthen across Northern Ireland and scotland, so would be a breezier into wednesday and a cooler feel as well. Theres still some high temperatures across england and wales, potentially up to 25 26 celsius, so still some warmth for the mid week. As we go through thursday, this front finally starts to push its way eastwards across the uk, not bringing very much rain across some central and eastern parts of england, areas which could do with some rain. By the time we get to friday and saturday, we could see something a little bit more unsettled and wetter arriving to all of us. Thats all from me. 00 23 03,075 4294966103 13 29,430 bye bye
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