Turkish PM says Tsipras acknowledged AKP’s success story

ANKARA

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Instead of seeking inspiration from Syriza’s success in Greece, opposition parties in Turkey should take a look at the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 12-year-long success story, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said, while suggesting that even Syriza leader and new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has expressed his recognition of this success.

Davutoğlu also implied what the ruling party has done in the last 12 years is actually what Syriza now has to do for its country.

“Pay attention; are you hearing fundamental issues of Turkey from the CHP [Republican People’s Party], the MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] and the HDP [Peoples’ Democratic Party]? No. Do they have an approach in regard to the economy? No. They have pinned hope on Tsipras,” Davutoğlu said on Feb. 3, while addressing his party’s parliamentary group at a regular weekly meeting.

“When I spoke with Mr. Tsipras over the phone, I told him, and he said he agreed with me, that we have turned a country once called a ‘sick man’ into a global power. Mr. Tsipras said he agreed with this,” he said, referring to his call to Tsipras to congratulate him on being elected Greece’s new prime minister.

A considerable number of opinion leaders and columnists in Turkey have been arguing for a while that Greece’s Syriza corresponds to Turkey’s AKP.

“We tread only in our nation’s footsteps. The opposition is, however, in a rush to find inspiration from other successes,” Davutoğlu said.

The prime minister had notified the public of his telephone call to Tsipras through his official twitter account.

“Just now I called and congratulated Greece’s new prime minister, Mr. Alexis Tsipras. I expect him to visit Turkey as soon as possible,” Davutoğlu said in a message posted on his account late Jan. 26.
“I hope that the new era will be good for the Greek people and for our relations as two friendly countries,” he added.