Turkish PM Erdoğan bids farewell to party group at Parliament

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan bid farewell to his parliamentary group during his address on July 22, saying it would be his last group meeting if he is elected president next month.

“I have addressed you from this desk for 13 years,” Erdoğan said in an emotional speech, adding that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was “witness to a historic struggle.”

“If my nation elects me [as the president], another friend will address you from this desk in the new legislative session,” he said. “The heart of this hall and this desk will keep beating only for justice and the nation.”

His speech was repeatedly interrupted by slogans chanted by the visitors watching the meeting.

The weekly party group meetings at Parliament have always been important in Turkish political life, but under Erdoğan’s rule they have transformed into a typical routine of harsh mutual slamming between the government and the opposition parties.

Erdoğan will compete with former Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) head Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who was appointed as a candidate by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), in the first round of the elections on Aug. 10. If none of the candidates achieve one more than the 50 percent of the votes, a second round will take place on Aug. 24.