Turkey: Erdogan re-elected as AKP leader

Prime Minister and AKP deputy from Siirt Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected as AKP leader with the full backing of the delegates. He received all 1368 delegates approval to continue to be the party leader.

In today’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) national congress, elections are underway to choose the party leader, Central Executive Council members, Party Assembly members and Disciplinary council members.

After all the scheduled speeches were made, a film that showed AKP’s history was presented.

AKP deputy leader Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat presented the activity report to the delegates.

Voting started at 3.10 p.m.

Firstly the party leader will be chosen. PM Erdogan is said to be the only candidate in the elections.

After the leadership elections, elections for the 50 full and 25 provisional members of the Party Assembly, 11 full and 5 provisional members of the Central Executive Council and 3 full and two provisional members of the Disciplinary Board will be made.

CORRUPTION HAS ENDED
Prime Minister and ruling Justice and development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that the days when resources of the country were being swallowed up by corrupt politicians have ended, adding that from now on, nothing apart from the good of the people would be taken into account.

Speaking at AKP national congress, Erdogan said that Turkey could not develop without installing justice in every part of the society, adding that their aim was to lower inflation to single digits in 2004.

He also said that Turkey’s main reason to send troops to Iraq would be for only humanitarian and peaceful concerns.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that his party had brought a breath of fresh air to Turkish politics, noting that AKP was known for its efforts to cooperate, not for seeking confrontation.

Speaking at AKP’s first national congress, Erdogan said that AKP was committed to end the constant tension between political parties.

He said politics before AKP, first aimed at being prisoners of ideological preconditions and secondly posting associates to high state posts and widely practiced cronyism.

He said AKP was practicing politics the way it was intended, noting that his party aimed at following thought and cooperation based policy making.

Many foreign and local dignitaries are in attendance in the AKP national congress.

Among them are Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) PM Dervis Eroglu, TRNC deputy PM Serdar Denktas, Greek Development Minister Akis Chohacopulos, TRNC Prime Ministry undersecretary Hasan Gungor, TRNC Republican Turkish Party (CTP) leader Mehmet Ali Talat, European Liberal Democrats (ELD) group leader Graham Watson, ELD Secretary General Alexander Beels, Greek New Democracy Party (NDP) leader Kostas Karamanlis, Greek Ambasador Petros Molidiatis, NDP Foreign Affairs Director Yiannis Valinakis, NDP Speaker Teodoros Rousopoulos, Maleysian Local Governments and Infrastructure Minister Salleh Bin Tun Mohd Said Keruak, Russian Eurasian party deputy leader Malik Kerimov, Bosnian Democratic Action Party deputy leader Seada Palavrich, opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Secretary Generals Mehmet Sevigen and Bulent Baratalı, Motherland Party (ANAP) deputy leader Mehmet Kececiler, Felicity Party (SP) deputy leader Ahmet Sunnetcioğlu and representatives of other political parties, one of the leaders of Western Thrace Turks Sadık Ahmet’s wife Isik Ahmet.

AKP HOLDING ITS FIRST EVER CONGRESS
First ever national congress to be organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will be held Today. Around 15-20 thousand people have shown up and sources say that there will be very tight security, including a thousand party members specially there for crowd control.

AKP printed around 10 thousand invitations and sources say that more than 500 local and foreign journalists have applied to AKP to get accreditation.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, all political leaders, presidents and PMs of EU member countries and European Parliament group leaders have been invited to attend the congress.

Greek opposition leader Costas Karamanlis and European Parliament Liberal group leader Graham Watson have confirmed that they would be attending.

Elections for 50 person Central Executive Council, party leadership and other executive posts will be held. At least 20 percent of Central Executive Council members are planned to be women.

Party slogan for the congress is “Everything for Turkey”.
A total of 1,462 delegates will vote, including founding members and parliamentarians.