MERSIN / KARAMAN
Turkey needs a new economic program to achieve stability, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has said, as the country heads to general elections come June 7.
In rallies held in southern Mersin and Karaman provinces on Wednesday, Kilicdaroglu said the current foreign and domestic policies were unsustainable, dismissing claims that Turkey would suffer loss of stability if the government changes.
"What stability are you talking about? Farmers can't get the worth of what they produce. The inflation is almost 10 percent. Dollar has skyrocketed," Kilicdaroglu said. "We need a new economic program, a new social policy, and a new government structure."
The opposition leader reiterated his economic promises, which include giving pensioners double salaries on Turkey's two religious festivals, and offering discounted diesel oil to farmers, with price reductions worth nearly two thirds of market prices.
The AK Party government, which has ruled Turkey for three terms since 2002, has dismissed Kilicdaroglu's promises, with Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek saying that CHP would deserve a Nobel Prize if they could succeed in bringing them to fruition without savaging the Turkish economy.
Kilicdaroglu criticized the government over corruption claims that go back to graft probes in December 2013 which targeted high-ranking cabinet members and businessmen.
"The way to spread welfare across the board is to have politicians who think of their citizens and society, not their own pockets," he said.
In the most recent parliamentary elections in 2011, CHP won 26 percent of the votes, gaining an additional 23 seats compared to the previous elections, against the AK Party's sweeping 50 percent.
The ruling party has won three general and three local elections, as well as two referendums. AK Party's founder and former PM of 12 years, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won the presidential election in August 2014.
The party has overseen an economic boost that almost tripled national income over the course of a decade, a power that was focused mainly on building Turkey's infrastructure at home and influence abroad.
Erdogan-led AK Party has also brought social reform that triggered a solution process to advance minority rights and the ethnic Kurdish population, while it has weathered criticism regarding corruption claims in higher echelons of the party.
June’s contest will be to elect 550 deputies to parliament from 20 political parties competing in the country's 25th general elections.
Voting has already begun for Turks abroad, with over 70,000 having voted by Tuesday.
Elections in Turkey have the second-highest voter turnout among developed democracies, according to a report released by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.
More than 84 percent of the electorate went to the polls in the 2011 general election, according to the report comparing turnout rates in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member states.
Although voting is mandatory in Turkey, the laws are not strictly enforced.
