Slander will get opposition parties nowhere, says PM Erdoğan

Addressing CHP leader Deniz Baykal and his supporters in an interview on his flight from Moscow to Ankara, he said: “Why are you then saying you are happy because our votes are down to 26 percent? If our share of the vote is 26 percent, the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] votes would together be at around 40 percent.

If this is the case, then why are you crying? There are only one-and-a-half years remaining until the elections. If the people vote for you, then you’ll come to power. But slander won’t get you anywhere.”

The prime minister also stated that Turkey’s democratic standards had risen thanks to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). He said it was his government that made it possible for every topic to be discussed openly without fear of prosecution. “Let’s go back to 10 years ago. Think of who interfered in what columnists wrote. We cannot forget about martial law [in the Southeast]. Look at how far we’ve come. We know how our citizens in the Southeast earned their legal rights. Nobody even thought about our Roma citizens. When we stated talking about them, the MHP also began to advocate for them. There weren’t any Roma people before yesterday? I don’t remember any earlier democratic initiative that mentioned the ‘Kurdish question’. I said that in 2005 in Diyarbakır. Our project of national unity and brotherhood includes [not only Kurds, but] minorities, Alevis and Roma as well,” he said.

Constitutional change

The prime minister also said that Turkey’s need for constitutional change would soon become inevitable. “Political parties are responsible for changing laws and drafting a new Constitution,” he said, but noted that current conditions were not conducive to a change in the Constitution. Recalling that his party has been working on a draft constitution since 2007, Erdoğan said the process had been stalled. “We have some background work completed. Society demands a new Constitution.” He said his party was ready to do whatever it takes to achieve consensus in Parliament but added that the CHP was reluctant to support this. “Earlier we decided to establish a parliamentary commission to work on a new constitution, but the CHP didn’t send any representatives to it.”

He said the initial changes to the Constitution the AK Party was planning were minor. “They filibuster even the smallest change. We would not bring a package that would hold Parliament hostage.”

Warning to the BDP

Erdoğan also shared his opinion on the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the successor to the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which was shut down in December by the Constitutional Court on charges of ethnic separatism. “We hope the BDP will conduct politics under this roof with caution and without falling victim to the same pitfalls [as the DTP]. They have democratic rights under this roof. That podium provides many opportunities. [Kurdish politicians] have said many things from that podium. He also reiterated that he and his party were against party closures; however, he also criticized the DTP and the BDP for encouraging violence and vandalism on the part of their supporters on the streets.

He also responded to Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir, who used vulgar language in a recent speech when he criticized those categorizing Kurdish politicians as “moderates” and “hawks.” Erdoğan said: “He should stay within certain limits when he talks. The AK Party has made many investments in the region that haven’t been made there for the past 80 years. It’s wrong to ignore them. If Baydemir had been mayor before we got into power, he wouldn’t have gotten a dime from the central government. We have never discriminated between political parties.”

Erdoğan also shared his opinion on recent economic developments. He said the global crisis had not affected the finance sector. He said even the unemployment rate has gone up only slightly, saying the damage Turkey sustained was minimal compared to other countries.