New parliament will be architect of ‘Century of Türkiye’: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The Turkish parliament, which hosts 600 lawmakers from 15 different political parties, can serve as the architect and guide of the “Century of Türkiye” by approving a brand new civilian and democratic constitution, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

“It is not possible to build the ‘Century of Türkiye’ with our current constitution that had been inherited from the coup plotters. I believe our new parliament that hosts 15 political parties with different world views and ideologies is enough representative to write a new civilian constitution,” Erdoğan said on June 21, in his first address to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentary group after the May polls.

Following the parliamentary polls of May 14, the 600-seat Turkish parliament has started its legislative activities with its new members.

Erdoğan repeated his calls for a new constitution as the backbone of the current charter had been written by the military junta that had staged a coup in 1980. The “Century of Türkiye” is the motto Erdoğan has been using before the elections to underline the start of the second centennial of the Republic of Türkiye.

“Our new parliament will be the founder, architect and guide of the Century of Türkiye,” Erdoğan stated.

Medium-term economy program underway

In his first address to the AKP group, Erdoğan issued messages on the economy following the rise of the minimum wage.

“A big responsibility falls on the shoulders of the economy management,” Erdoğan stated. “We have established the coordination [among the members of the new economy management] following the establishment of a strong, harmonious and competent team,” he said, recalling that the first meeting was held last week under the leadership of Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz.

“We are committed to continuing the growth of the Turkish economy through investment, production, export and employment,” he said.

The government will continue to support the citizens, industrialists, exporters, farmers and all other business groups, Erdoğan vowed, stressing that the fight against inflation will continue without stop.

“We will continue to work relentlessly until we make our country one of the top 10 economies in the world,” he suggested.

Erdoğan informed that they have already drafted a road map that includes a medium-term economy policy, which will be publicized when ready.

Calls for local polls

Erdoğan also recalled that local elections will be held in March 2024 and that the AKP will focus on winning municipal polls using the psychological superiority stemming from May 2023 polls.

“The marathon for the local polls has started. Our objective should be to increase the number of municipalities we have, particularly by returning those we have lost in the last election,” he said, referring to metropoles such as Istanbul and Ankara.

“We will focus on metropoles, and we will continue to walk on this path,” he added.