Erdogan Pledges More Democracy, Roads in Turkish Election Bid

By Steve Bryant - Apr 16, 2011

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan begin his party’s re-election campaign, pledging a more democratic system and infrastructure investment that he said would triple the size of the economy in 12 years.

The Justice and Development Party will rewrite the constitution and review the way that political parties are funded and organized, Erdogan said in a speech at the Ankara headquarters of his party today.

He also pledged to work toward a solution to the country’s Kurdish situation. The party stands by its goal of full European Union membership for the country and plans to build close ties with the Middle East, he said.

Erdogan, 57, is campaigning for a third term in office, which would make him the longest-serving prime minister since the country began competitive elections in 1950. He won 341 seats in the Ankara parliament in 2007 elections, short of the 367 needed to approve constitutional change without holding a public referendum.

Boosted by gross domestic product growth of 8.9 percent last year, his party has the backing of 45 percent of the electorate, Milliyet newspaper reported on April 11, citing Adil Gur, chief of research company A&G Arastirma. Justice and Development would get between 290 and 360 seats in parliament, depending on which parties beat the 10 percent vote threshold required to enter the legislature, Milliyet said.

Erdogan told voters his party wants to extend its record of economic expansion and set a goal of $2.1 trillion in GDP by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the republic. GDP last year was about $730 billion. Coalition governments are marked by instability and “the loss of everything that has been achieved,” he said.

The party remains committed to budgetary discipline and a “low inflation, low rates” environment, he said, outlining plans to expand the road and rail network as well as build low- cost housing for the poor. He said there would be cheap furnished homes for newly-weds on low wages. Half of Turkey’s 74 million population is under 29 years of age.

Source: Bloomberg.
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-16/erdogan-pledges-more-democracy-roads-in-turkish-election-bid.html.