PM Erdoğan: Nation will not elect a ‘flower pot’ president
Presidential hopeful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan has belittled the portrayal of his main competitor Ekmeleddin Ä°hsanoÄlu as an impartial statesman, saying the Turkish people will not be electing âan ornamental presidentâ when they go to the ballot boxes next month.
âIt is written on [the wall of] Parliament that âSovereignty belongs to the nation.â Isnât it still this way?â ErdoÄan said on July 8, addressing a parliamentary group meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), one week after being officially announced as his partyâs presidential candidate on July 1.
âThe nation has established the AK Party and its fabric is woven by the nation. Just as the nation is able to designate its government, it will easily elect [the president]. The CHP [main opposition Republican Peopleâs Party] does not recognize the nation. It does not believe that it [the nation] can make a good choice,â he added.
The Turkish president will be directly elected by voters for the first time in the history of the country next month, and Ä°hsanoÄlu is the joint candidate of the two largest opposition parties, the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
âThe CHP this time insists on something: It is trying to elect a âvase,â a âflower pot,â not a president,â ErdoÄan said, using a phrase that is widely used in Turkish to describe a person who does not take the initiative.
âCan a president be impartial? Which president has ever been impartial? Were Mr. [Süleyman] Demiral and Mr. [Ahmet Necdet] Sezer not partial?â he asked, referring to outgoing President Abdullah Gülâs predecessor Sezer and Sezerâs...
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