President Erdoğan criticizes “Table of Six”

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized opposition parties for not being able to declare their presidential candidate even when only a few months have left for the elections.

“The nation is looking for a president who will rule the country, they are worried about six people who will rule the president,” Erdoğan said on Jan. 10, addressing a meeting of craftspeople.

“The nation will vote and six trustees will rule the country. Six captains sink a ship. Our nation will oppose its civil tutelage,” Erdoğan said.

The struggle in the election period does not happen with one person, Erdoğan said.

“There were candidates before us in the previous presidential elections. Now four-five months are left for the election, and there is still no candidate who can come before us,” he stated.

“They set up a table, there are six people around and there is another one making seven who is invisible,” he said indirectly referring to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The president of these six parties will be responsible to the leaders of six opposition parties and that case will not bring confidence and stability, Erdoğan said. “ Why should the nation put someone who cannot decide on any issue of the country and the people with his free will?” he asked.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Felicity party (FP) Chair Temel Karamollaoğlu, İYİ (Good) Party Chair Meral Akşener, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Chair Ali Babacan, Future Party Chair Ahmet Davutoğlu and Democrat Party Chair Gültekin Uysal have held several meetings to unite for reinstating the parliamentary system in Türkiye.

Erdoğan, meanwhile, drew attention to the steps the government has been taking to protect the citizens against the impacts of global crises.

“We have reconfigured our economic program in a manner that would not only help us overcome the hurdles in front of us but also steer us towards bigger goals. We have determinedly implemented our economic program based on growth through investments, employment, production, exports and account surplus,” he said.

Erdoğan stated that at a time when the world was talking about recession and contraction, Türkiye reached a growth rate of 11.4 percent in 2011 and 6.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2022.

“We have resumed our ascent after stopping the relative slowdown in income caused by the excessive rise in foreign exchange. We have reached the highest-ever level in our history with 31.5 million employment,” Erdoğan said.

The president emphasized that they had broken the Republican-era record with $254.2 billion worth of exports.

“We have launched a great initiative in every field of energy, which is the biggest cause of our current account deficit, from the Black Sea natural gas to oil wells, solar plants and wind plants. With high pay rises in salaries and pensions, we compensate for the loss of welfare caused by inflation,” the president stated.