Outgoing PM Davutoğlu bids farewell to military

ANKARA

AA photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu visited the Turkish General Staff in order to bid farewell on May 9.

Davutoğlu’s visit came just days after he announced his decision to leave the chairmanship of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) at an extraordinary convention on May 22. 

“We were in joint efforts during the hard times in my prime ministry with the Chief of General Staff [Hulusi Akar] and the Defense Minister [İsmet Yılmaz]. I was honored by that,” Davutoğlu told journalists in a press statement after an hour-long meeting with Akar, which was his first farewell meeting since the resignation announcement.

“The armed forces represented our country with power and might on both the struggle against terror and the unrest in the region,” the outgoing prime minister added. 

Davutoğlu thanked the members of the armed forces and the chief of staff for the major efforts they made in order to increase Turkey’s defense capacity. 

“We were together when we adopted the decision on the struggle against terror on July 24, [2015,] and we worked together shoulder-to-shoulder on the decision on the struggle against terror which we made in December [2015],” Davutoğlu said, referring to operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and other groups listed as “terrorist organizations” by Turkey. 

“We survived such hardships. It [the armed forces] will reach the centenary of our republic with the same determination and consciousness,” he said. 

Davutoğlu thanked Turkey’s gendarmes, police officers and soldiers for the “extraordinary success” that they showed in the struggle against terror, as he also gave his condolences to the police officers, soldiers, village guards and civilians who have been killed in attacks. 

In his speech, Davutoğlu also gave Mother’s Day wishes to the wives and mothers of soldiers who have been killed in security operations.

The prime minister announced his decision to resign on May 5, as he underlined the reason behind his departure was not his failure as premier but rather differences with his colleagues over principles.

“My term [as prime minister] was one of success. With this decision, there is no feeling of unsuccessfulness or regret over what I have done. I did my job properly and with honor,” Davutoğlu said at a press conference after the AKP’s central-decision making body decided to hold an extraordinary convention.