AKP’s youth branch holds congress

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan met Macedonia’s President Gjorge Ivanov at his home in Istanbul yesterday.

The Istanbul youth branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) held its third ordinary general congress, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was expected to give a speech, did not attend.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the Abdi İpekçi Sports Hall yesterday in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district to mark the third annual congress of the AKP’s youth branch.

Among the crowd there were members from all 39 districts of Istanbul.

Kevser, a 21-year-old university student, said she came to support Erdoğan, adding the congress was cancelled three times before due to his health.

“Being young and a woman is not easy in the AKP’s provincial organization but [the executives] are opening the door to politics for us,” Kevser said.

Erdoğan spoke to the crowd with a video message and said he would have liked very much to participate in the congress, however added that he is advised by his doctors to rest in his home after his recent operation .

Although he didn’t participate in the congress, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan met Macedonia’s President Gjorge Ivanov at his home in Istanbul yesterday.

The meeting, which was closed to press, lasted for an hour. Ivanov and his wife wished Erdoğan a speedy recovery after he underwent two surgeries on his digestive system.