Erdoğan vows to win polls with People’s Alliance in 2023

MERSİN

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 17 reiterated his party’s intention to win upcoming elections in 2023 as the People’s Alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

“As the AK Party [Justice and Development Party] and the People’s Alliance, we want to continue our journey of service to the nation by restoring confidence in 2023,” he said, addressing his party’s meeting in the southern province of Mersin.

Erdoğan urged party members to make further efforts through the election campaign and tell the voters about the future plans of the AKP.

“For this, we have to start working in a planned, programmed, active way and make the best use of the next time. We must accurately tell our people about the reforms that the AK Party has implemented in the economy, democracy, law, defense industry, security and justice. We must tell not only our past achievements but also our 2053 and 2071 visions to our nation,” the president said.

Emphasizing that they are resolutely continuing their struggle to serve the country even though they encounter difficulties, Erdoğan said, “While the leaders of the opposition are wandering between the rooms of their houses, we are traveling all over Turkey from east to west, from north to south.”

While the opposition is “killing time in the ‘you-me’ fight,” the AKP is working day and night to help the country achieve its goals, Erdoğan said.

“There is slander, destruction, prevention, and blockade on their agenda. There is a return to the old dark days. There is a ban on their agenda, there is marginalization, there is the silencing of the silent majority again. On their agenda is to humiliate our nation’s values, to usurp our nation’s democratic gains. On their agenda is to strain the country, drag it into chaos, and polarize our people with a politics of hatred,” the president said, referring to opposition parties.

Erdoğan said the opposition parties “are not even capable of running municipalities” properly.

“We have witnessed together in this process that they do not have the skills to govern, let alone the country, even the municipalities under their control,” the president said, claiming that these parties failed to realize any of the promises and commitments they made to the nation in the election squares.

“They cannot do any work properly, from garbage collection to urban transportation, from the culture and arts to the environment. Water does not flow in the provinces anymore. We are dealing with incompetence that cannot fulfil even the most basic municipal services,” Erdoğan stated.

The “political burnout” of the opposition is not a reference for the AKP, he said, emphasizing that their parameter is not others, but our principles.

“When we provide services, we look at the need, not the rate of votes we receive. While we are developing a project, we look at the contribution it will make to our country. For 20 years, we have been serving all of Turkey without any discrimination and regardless of its political preferences,” Erdoğan stated.