Davutoğlu: AKP list did not cause chaos as opposition hoped

Selçuk Şenyüz – ANKARA

AA Photo

No crisis or chaos took place within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of a deadline to finalize party candidate lists, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said, claiming the opposition was disappointed by the fact.

“Some changes were made in the lists we have submitted to the YSK [Supreme Election Board]. On the morning of April 8, those who expected to wake up to an atmosphere of chaos or an earthquake in Turkey were proven wrong. That’s because we perform our duties in a correct manner,” Davutoğlu said April 8 at a meeting of the eighth Trade and Industry Council of Turkey, organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) in Ankara.

“They will be proven wrong once again. We will continue our way without any change in stability and trust after June 8 [a day after the parliamentary elections],” he added. 

His remarks came a day after Turkish political parties announced their candidates’ lists for the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Davutoğlu said that when he took over as prime minister in August last year, he warned his colleagues not to write an electoral period program that spans only from September 2014 to June 2015 while they drafted the government program. 

“Resorting to an economic policy only directed toward elections is the danger or trap that a ruling party will face ahead of elections,” Davutoğlu said.

“We consult with all to make the best decisions for [Turkey’s] long-term and permanent stability,” he said.

“The history and records are our witnesses that we have never formulated an election economy ahead of elections.”

Davutoğlu highlighted political stability, trust, political vision, as well as solid ties between politics and the economy, as the key to Turkey’s survival in the global economic crisis.

He also vowed never to take economic decisions that would end up burdening the next generations.
  
“We will never cause fiscal deficits or social security deficits for leaders who take over the government from us,” he said.

Approximately 56 million Turkish citizens will vote on June 7 in the country’s 25th general elections to elect the 550 lawmakers of the Turkish Parliament.

Turkey had held general elections every five years until a 2007 constitutional change which set elections at every four years.