Erdoğan vows to prepare Turkish cities for the future

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the People's Alliance will work day and night to prepare the Turkish cities for the future after the municipal elections, President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

"We are determined to prepare our cities for the future by improving the living conditions in rural areas and encouraging our people to stay where they were born and raised," Erdoğan said as he announced the AKP's municipal candidates for the northwestern province of Bursa's districts on Feb. 2.

Türkiye will hold the mayoral elections on May 31.

The AKP will pursue a modern, sustainable, innovative and environment-friendly urbanization policy, which will lead all the Turkish cities to be further developed, Erdoğan stated. This policy includes building disaster-resistance cities in which the people can live in peace, safety and comfort, the president said.

"We have come to this level of development as a result of our policies that embrace 85 million people in 81 provinces without discrimination," Erdoğan suggested, stressing this was the key notion in realizing the biggest leap of Turkish development.

Recalling that Türkiye will see no elections until May 2028 after the March local polls, Erdoğan said, "Therefore, ahead of us lays a long period for us to realize our middle and long-term programs."

"I am confident that our people will vote for those who are pursuing the real mayoral policies," the president said, criticizing the opposition for lacking a concrete vision and meaningful projects on the eve of the local polls.

"I am truly sorry to observe that their sole motivation is to make the AK Party and the People Alliance lose as they have no single project or vision for our cities," he...