Turkish PM Erdogan vows to quit party post if he loses vote

Sun Feb 20, 2011

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan pledged Sunday to step down as chairman of the AK Party to prove he is not a "dictator" if it finishes second in a June general election.

Most opinion polls have shown that AK, which first came to power in 2002, is well ahead of its rivals in a campaign to win its third term. See.

"If my party finishes second, I will leave my post as chairman. I will take to the road in Anatolia and join my people and work from there," Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live by the news channel NTV.

"Will those who accuse me of having dictatorial aspirations step aside if their party finishes second?" he said.

Erdogan's critics say he has taken an authoritarian turn as with arrests of military officers, journalists and other political opponents on coup-plot charges continuing just months before the general election.

Hundreds of people are in prison during a series of mass trials, at which prosecutors have linked the defendants to Ergenekon, an ultra-nationalist network, or other illegal groups that plotted to overthrow Erdogan in a number of failed coups.

"To those who say we've created an empire of fear, I say we believe in democracy and we trust the people," Erdogan said.

Nationalists view Erdogan's efforts to advance Turkey's European Union membership drive, including greater cultural rights for ethnic Kurds, as a threat to Turkish unity.

Secularists, including members of the armed forces, worry that AK harbors a secret Islamist agenda because of its roots in a banned religious movement.

The officially secular Turkish state strictly controls religion in a country whose population is 99.9 percent Muslim.

(Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE71J2FW20110220.