Where have you been for the last 16 years: İYİ Party leader Akşener to AKP

KAYSERİ

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has slammed the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) election manifesto for the upcoming June 24 elections, saying it made promises to fix the problems they created during their 16-year tenure.

“What have you done in the past 16 years?” Akşener said at an election rally in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri on May 25, criticizing the AKP’s 16 years in power.

Her comments came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced his AKP’s election manifesto on May 24, proposing to bring “more democracy and prosperity” to Turkey.

“They say they will improve the economy. But he himself [Erdoğan] is the one who caused Turkey to deindustrialize indefinitely,” she said.

“They ruined our economy because of wrong policies for 16 years. Now they cannot put it back together,” she said.

She criticized the government’s privatizations and tax reforms, saying the ruling party “linked Turkey’s economy to only the construction sector.”

“They are incapable of managing this economy,” she said.

She also criticized the public expenditure of the ruling party, accusing AKP officials of “spending taxpayers’ money on luxury.”

“You shouldn’t be drinking water from glasses worth 1,200 liras or drinking tea worth 50,000 liras,” she said.

"You cannot make your name by building palaces,” she added.