Turkey’s ruling AKP needs renewal, no excuses left, Erdoğan says

ANKARA

AFP photo

Turkey’s president and the chair of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has vowed to impose a substantial change to the party’s organization and all provincial branches because they are suffering from “metal fatigue.” 

“We will review and update all our provincial organizations in the cities, districts and villages because there is a metal fatigue that we need to avoid. We have to get ready for the 2019 elections with more dynamic and hardworking teams,” Erdoğan told his AKP lawmakers in his first address as the party’s chairman on May 30. 

Erdoğan spoke of the need for renewal one day after he said at a party iftar dinner late on May 29 that the party now had no excuses not to fulfill its promises to citizens following a system change in the aftermath of a constitutional referendum that passes charter amendments in controversial circumstances on April 16. 

“There are no excuses or hurdles left before us that would prevent us from fulfilling the promises we made to our nation after the governance system changed,” Erdoğan said at the dinner in Ankara. 

“From now on, we have to implement an intense program that focuses on getting results,” the president said. 

He also called on the local AKP organizations to start preparations for elections. 

Erdoğan was elected as the AKP chairman on May 21 in line with amendments that allowed him to restore his links with his AKP. 

“The last time we were with you in this hall was July 24, 2014. I feel the happiness of being with you precisely 1,044 days after,” he said in his first group meeting after the change.
 
Erdoğan express gratitude to former AKP leader and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım by saying that he would go down in history.

Reiterating that the AKP has always engaged in efforts to renew itself to adopt new conditions since it was founded in 2001, Erdoğan said, “When we look at what we have done and what we have been through since 2001 we see this: It has become the AK Party that introduced democracy, prosperity and the republic in their real senses.” 

Erdoğan claimed the AKP was a democratic, republican, national and conservative political party that focuses on the “national will” above everything.

“That said, the AK Party is also revolutionary. The bravest, progressive, substantial and most efficient changes on fundamental rights and freedoms in the entire history of the republic have taken place during AK Party rule,” he said.


180-day action plan 

Erdoğan repeated that he wanted all ministers to prepare a 180-day action plan by the end of the year to be able to implement them by the 2019 elections, adding that the AKP was also working on 2023 and 2035 targets for Turkey. 

“As we have no serious political rival, we are in self-competition in regards to the services we deliver to our people. We should be able to raise the bar of success. As you know with the April 16 referendum, we’ll need 50 percent plus one in the upcoming elections,” Erdoğan said, calling all his AKP colleagues to start to work without delay to this end.