We’ll build Century of Türkiye together: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated that 85 million Turkish people will together build the Century of Türkiye as the country is marking the centennial of its foundation while struggling for the recovery of millions of people affected by the most devastating disaster of the world.

“We will continue the building process of the Century of Türkiye altogether,” President Erdoğan said during his weekly address to the parliamentary group of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on March 15.

Türkiye is marking its 100th anniversary this year, and Erdoğan vowed that the second century will be dubbed the “Century of Türkiye.”

Erdoğan, who is also the AKP chairman, will run for another term as the president in the May 14 elections. He called on his party fellows and officials to continue to work day and night to claim another victory in the polls.

“We have a debt to those who have hope for the future. That is why we should avoid any sort of accident [in elections] while we are about to enter a new era,” Erdoğan stated. “We have a lot to do as the People’s Alliance, as the president and ministers. We have to recover from the earthquake wounds swiftly and build permanent homes. While doing so, we have never distracted from our projects under the Century of Türkiye Vision,” he stated.

Criticizing the opposition Nation Alliance and its joint presidential candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, for trying to demotivate the earthquake victims, Erdoğan described them as “earthquake tourists.”

“While we were exerting efforts to heal the wounds and help our people in the region, these people were in political plays for their personal career,” the president said, describing the internal discussions among the six-party officials as a disgrace for democracy.

“We fail to see the desired opposition in our democracy because of the personality [of Kılıçdaroğlu]. Whatever we say to a person who asks, ‘Who is responsible for the earthquake?’ is senseless. Such a person can never care for the earthquake victims, nor this country and this nation,” Erdoğan maintained.

He also recalled that the government launched the National Risk Shield Project two weeks ago and informed that 13 separate commissions have been established under this project being supervised by Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum at a recent meeting in Gaziantep.