Countdown starts for June 2023 polls: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The countdown for the parliamentary and presidential election slated for June 2023 has started as there is only one year to go, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, repeating his calls to the main opposition leader to either announce his candidacy or his candidate for the presidency.

“We can say that the countdown for the 2023 polls has started. Despite the fact that the opposition calls for early polls, the election date is set [according to the law]. In fact, the opposition does not want early polls, and they even don’t want elections to happen at all, as they are used to doing politics without shouldering any responsibility,” Erdoğan said at his Justice and Development Party (AKP) group meeting on June 15. He vowed that the ruling alliance would win another victory in the next year’s polls.

Turkey, which holds polls every five years, held the latest presidential and parliamentary polls on June 24, 2018.

Criticizing the opposition-led Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir mayors for failing to take necessary actions and measures against the heavy rain and flood disasters, Erdoğan stressed that even this incident shows that the six-party opposition alliance is not able to govern the country.

“Those who cannot yet announce who will be their presidential candidate cannot have an appetite to serve the people. They say they will announce their candidate once the election is set. The election date is well known, it is June 2023. Why don’t you announce your candidate?” he asked.

The opposition says they don’t announce the candidate in order to save him or her from being tarnished in the eyes of public opinion, Erdoğan stated, asking, “What kind of a candidate is this that his name will be tarnished once announced as a candidate?”

“I call on [chairman of the Republican People’s Party Kemal] Kılıçdaroğlu once again: Either announce your candidacy or your [presidential] candidate. Since I called on him to do so, he suddenly became silent,” he said, claiming that the opposition cannot disclose its candidate before they get the necessary consent from the foreign embassies.

“Be brave and announce your candidacy,” the president repeated.

Criticism against business group

Speaking about the economy, Erdoğan slammed the new chairman of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Orhan Turan, for calling on the government to change the current economic model and adopt more classical lines in dealing with the high inflation.

“I think the TÜSİAD should never knock on the government’s door if they continue like that. I say that you are being controlled from the same center. The center is the CHP, and you are talking like them. This government is only open to those who pursue national stance,” he said.

Erdoğan also criticized TÜSİAD’s head for advising the government over the admission of Sweden and Finland into NATO. “We cannot change our stance until Sweden and Finland take clear steps. You can stand with them, but we will not,” he said, adding, “You cannot lecture us on foreign policy. Know your place!”

On economic problems, Erdoğan said the government is aware of the price hikes and sees the hikes in oil prices as disturbing but at the same time is taking measures to protect the people’s economy. “Due to the extreme increase in oil prices in the world, the high prices that occur in oil prices are really disturbing. I wish we could prevent this situation,” he said, underlining that Turkey is not an oil-rich country. “As a country that imports a large part of its oil consumption, we are immediately affected by both the oil price increase and the exchange rate increase.”