President Erdoğan attended the AK Party Candidate Promotion Meeting. In his speech here, Erdoğan reminded that they shared the names of 7 metropolitan and provincial mayoral candidates in Istanbul with the public on January 26 and said, “Today, we are announcing the remaining metropolitan and provincial mayoral candidates. I congratulate our candidates in advance and wish them success in their election campaigns and in the services they will provide to our cities afterwards. Thus, we are announcing all our metropolitan and provincial mayoral candidates except for the 7 provinces in which we will support the candidates of our partner in the People's Alliance, MHP. Starting from next Saturday, we will also promote our district candidates, starting from Istanbul. "We will complete the promotion of our district candidates in a short time by personally going to some cities and sending our vice presidents to some cities," he said.
Stating that their goal is to win the municipalities that are under the control of the AK Party and the People's Alliance with overwhelming odds, as well as to introduce the cities under the control of the opposition to real municipalism, Erdoğan said, "For this purpose, we will participate in the elections with mayors who will always be with our nation at every step and moment and who will devote themselves to their cities with all their heart and mind." We are getting ready. Hopefully, we will present our election declaration to the discretion of our nation on January 30. As it is known, according to the election calendar, candidate lists must be submitted to the election boards on February 20 at the latest. "Our intention is to complete all preparations for the candidates before February 20 and concentrate all our time and energy on our election campaign," he said.
“WE WERE NOT ONE OF THOSE WHO FALLED TO PROTECT THEIR SEATS BY HIDING BEHIND IDEOLOGICAL BLINDNESS”
President Erdoğan continued his speech as follows:
“We want to take our journey of serving our people through municipalities, which we started in Istanbul exactly 30 years ago in 1994, to its peak in 2024, when we step into the Turkish Century. Are we ready for this? As a party that came to power with its success in municipalities, we have to keep strong the place where we first proved our maturity. We seek to bring every municipality of our country, including its metropolitan city, province, district and town, to levels befitting the Turkish Century with our work and service policy. We will work, produce and demonstrate our difference with love, perseverance and determination, feeling the burden of every vote given to us at the ballot box at every moment of our duties. "We have never been and will never be among those who protect their seats by hiding behind various concepts, values, symbols and ideological blindness, even though they do not give anything to their cities and the people living there."
“AK PARTY IS NOT THE RIGHT ADDRESS FOR THEM”
Erdoğan stated that they are among those who entered the hearts of the Turkish nation with the love in their hearts, the projects in their minds, the efforts they say they do not spare, and the sweat on their foreheads, and said, "Whoever does not look at the positions reached through politics, including mayor, member of parliament, organization management, with this perspective, AK Party is not the right door for him. If there are those who aspire to be judges of their city rather than becoming servants of their city through the mayoralty, AK Party is not the right address for them. If anyone has his eyes on the ballot box without worrying about the problems of his city, without integrating with the goals of his country, without being equipped with the values of his nation, the AK Party is not the right channel for him. "Just like Yunus Emre, who did not let even crooked wood through Tapduk Emre's door, the AK Party is not the place for those who make even the slightest mistake or the slightest crookedness against our nation," he said.
“WE ARE DESIRED TO SERVE OUR NATION”
President Erdoğan pointed out that they could not approve any other understanding of politics on the grounds that they were a cadre who named it "The Virtuous Movement" at the establishment stage and said, "We can never go down such a path. Thank God, we have always appeared before our nation in this way. We have worked in this way in municipalities for 30 years and for the government for 21 years. This is how we brought our country to its current level. This is how we won the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections last May, together with our partners in the People's Alliance. Hopefully, we will assume the responsibility of managing municipalities in this way again in the first local government elections of the Turkey Century on March 31. To put it in the poet's language; This square is a soldier's square. Let the pure and pure come. This is a service caravan. Let the wise man come. Let it be love, basically. Let your clothes smell like labor. Let those who have a solid mark in the atlas of public service come. His hand will be destroyed, the right pedestrian will be arrowed. The eye becomes a sty, what is missing, let the one who has vision problems come. "We, as a staff that has a strong voice in the field of soldiers, has a mark in the atlas of public service, and is an arrow on the right foot, are determined to once again contribute to our cities and serve our nation on March 31."
After his speech, Erdoğan announced his party's provincial mayoral candidates one by one, while Dr., who was announced by the AK Party as the Nevşehir Mayor candidate. Along with Mehmet Savran, he invited AK Party Nevşehir Deputies Süleyman Özgün, Emre Çalışkan, Provincial Deputy Chairman Ergün Elmacı, Women's Branch President Elife Çelebi and Youth Branch President Haluk Köybaşı to the stage and greeted the party members.
