ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned “global imperialists” and emphasized Turkey’s strength as he unveiled his party’s manifesto for next month’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
Thousands of supporters gathered at a sports arena in Ankara for the announcement of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) blueprint for winning the upcoming May 14 elections, with tens of thousands more rallying outside.
Erdogan, who is facing public anger over a struggling economy and his government’s response to a deadly earthquake earlier this year, is running neck-and-neck with secular Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the polls, and the AKP’s control of parliament is also in doubt.
Despite the challenges, Erdogan sounded unfazed as he delivered a blistering performance on stage, repeatedly referring to the 2016 coup attempt and casting his rivals as pawns of foreign governments.
He also embraced his party’s socially conservative traditions and appealed to the broader Muslim world. “The AK Party, besides being a political party in the classical sense, is an effective movement that has a cause, a vision, a dream, and a conscience,” Erdogan said. “The entire Islamic world is watching what happens on May 14.”
Polls suggest Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are heading for a runoff on May 28, but the May 14 vote will definitively determine whether the AKP can keep control of parliament through an alliance with a far-right group.
Erdogan’s rule in Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan stripped the parliament of much of its powers during the second decade of his rule, but the opposition wants to reverse the process by regaining control of the legislature and giving ministries and other institutions more freedom to work on their own.
The outcome of the elections will depend in part on which side voters trust more to pull Turkey’s economy out of its most dire crisis under Erdogan’s rule. Inflation reached 85% last year, and the lira (Turkish currency) lost nearly half its value due to Erdogan’s insistence on achieving growth through ultra-low interest rates.
The AKP manifesto hints at possible policy reversals but offers few concrete details. “A strong economic team will again take charge in the new cabinet,” it says. “Our economic team will update our macroeconomic policy framework in dialogue and consultation with the public, the private sector and civil society.”
Some analysts saw this as an opening for a potential return to the government of economists with more traditional views.
