AKP is Turkey’s only mainstream party, all others ‘marginal’: PM Davutoğlu

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu addresses an expanded meeting of the AKP’s provincial chairs on Nov. 17, 2015. AA Photo

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the only political party representing the whole of Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has stated, claiming that all other parties were “marginalized” in the Nov. 1 general election. 

“As the AK Parti, we had deputies elected everywhere but three provinces,” Davutoğlu said on Nov. 17, addressing an expanded meeting of the AKP’s provincial chairs that was also attended by its newly elected deputies.

“I’m calling on those who voted for the AK Parti in Şırnak, Hakkari and Tunceli, despite the fact that we couldn’t get deputies elected there: They must not think they are not represented. At the moment, the AK Parti is also representing Hakkari, Şırnak and Tunceli at parliament with its 317 deputies,” he said.

The prime minister also addressed the meaning of the Nov. 1 results for the opposition parties that also managed to get into parliament: The Republican People’s Party, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“Apart from in the Aegean and Marmara regions, the CHP couldn’t make its presence felt. It was the top party in only six provinces. The MHP’s situation is even worse. It couldn’t be the top party in any provinces and it couldn’t get any deputies at all elected in 35 provinces. The HDP lost one million votes [between the June 7 election and Nov. 1], and I thank those citizens [who didn’t vote for the HDP],” Davutoğlu said. 

“Our nation has turned its back on those who got their backing from the terrorist organization. The election showed that those who get their backing from the nation survive in these lands, not those who get their backing from the mountains,” he added, in an apparent reference to the HDP’s shared grassroots with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“Here is my advice to Mr. [CHP leader Kemal] Kılıçdaroğlu, Mr. [MHP leader Devlet] Bahçeli] and Mr. [HDP co-chair Selahattin] Demirtaş: They should hang maps of regions where they got votes and where they couldn’t get votes on all walls of their party headquarters. They should look at them and draw a lesson. These parties are gradually becoming marginalized. Can parties that don’t represent Turkey in its entirety understand Turkey? Since they don’t appeal to all of Turkey, they are gradually drifting away from comprehending all of Turkey and they are driven towards a polarizing language,” Davutoğlu said at the meeting, which was held hours before new members of the national assembly gathered for an oath-taking ceremony.