Every election is an exam, opportunity: Erdoğan

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 27 that Turkey's ruling party succeeded in local elections held last month.

“Every election is an exam, struggle and an opportunity for assessment. We substantially succeeded in the March 31 local elections,” said Erdoğan, addressing a gathering of the AKP in the capital Ankara.

He noted that the AK Party got 44.4% of the votes which is the second highest rate of their party in terms of local elections to date.

He called the mayoral elections of Istanbul questionable, adding: “All doubts must be eliminated so that the people feel relieved.”

He also referred to the documents which showed that there was a very serious organized set up in Istanbul polls.

Recalling the opposition party's concerns over objections to Istanbul poll results, Erdoğan termed the situation “tragicomic” as the party has the right to challenge the results according to the electoral law.

Millions of Turkish voters cast their votes nationwide on March 31 in local elections to choose mayors, city council members, and other officials for the next five years.

Ekrem İmamoğlu of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), took oath as mayor of Istanbul earlier this month, amid AKP's claims over voting irregularities.

Erdoğan refuted rumors that the AKP has given up hope on the Istanbul results, stating that the party will continue its legal struggle.

Reiterating that his party and coalition partners had paved the way to reach a common ground in Turkey, he invited all Turkish citizens, who had not sold their hearts and minds to external powers and terrorists, to join their alliance.

He insisted that there is no polarization in Turkey with the exception of one entity which supports terrorist organization.

Speaking about the events of 1915, he said the Armenian relocation was neither a genocide, nor a great disaster, which took place under troublesome conditions a century ago.

“Millions of Armenians would not be living across Europe, U.S., North Africa, Caucasus, if allegations against us were true,” Erdoğan added.

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces.

A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as "genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy in which both sides suffered casualties.