Erdoğan: If Elected Mayors Have No Municipal Councils to Lean on, They Cannot Get Budget

* Photograph: Anadolu Agency (Archive)

Click to read the article in Turkish

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken about the ongoing process of appeals raised against unofficial results of March 31 local elections.

Stating that "the electoral process has come to an end and the judicial process has started," Erdoğan has said, "The Supreme Election Council (YSK) is the boss of this judicial process. It will give the final decision."

Erdoğan has made the following remarks about the elections:

'We have taken 15 metropolitan municipalities'

"If the results received in a province don't overlap with the works that we do, then, the YSK is where we will appeal. It is not the usurpation of a right.

"It is exactly what is being done in Ankara, in Yalova and in several other provinces now. We, as the AK Party, have received 15 of 30 metropolitan municipalities across Turkey. The MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] has also received one metropolitan municipality, that of Manisa.

"On the other side, the the Nation Alliance [main opposition CHP and İYİ Party] has received 14 metropolitan municipalities. With the latest developments, we, as the People's Alliance, have received 53.3 percent. It means, the mechanism of the four [opposition parties] competing against us has not even received 47 percent. There is such a margin.

To the US: Know your place

"However, the US and Europe are making statements, striving to meddle in Turkey's internal affairs.

"Know your place. You have raised these objections in your countries for years. There are several steps taken in the US, not one or two... First of all, they should know this: Everyone should know their place. With an electoral turnout reaching 82.83 percent, Turkey has given a lesson on democracy to the whole world. Are they giving such a lesson on democracy? No.

"We have taken 70 percent of all district municipalities. They should also learn a lesson. There are 386 towns, we have received 202 of them as the AK Party. The MHP has received 89 of them. The People's Alliance has received 75 percent in total.

'We have more members in municipal councils'

"There is a big lesson here. Let's come to the metropolitan municipal council now... I don't know what decision the YSK has given about it, but, even in the current situation, the overwhelming majority of the metropolitan municipal council is composed of AK Party, the People's Alliance.

"We have more municipal council members than the opposition now. The situation in Ankara is way different: We have 107 members there and the rest are from the mechanism of the four.

"Above all, if a mayor doesn't have a municipal council to lean on, he or she can neither establish commissions, nor get any budgets. This control mechanism will not let you do something wrong. Huh, if you are on the right track, it will say, 'Well, okay then.'

"It is the case for İstanbul as well as for Ankara. Our sole expectation is the following right now: There is no need for panic, I am the President of this country now. But there is another opportunity given to me by the Constitution. I am also the chair of a party.

"The things expressed by the opposition are not possible in the new mechanism. I must perform my both duties."

'Ministry of Defense took away the memorial book"

Concluding his remarks, Erdoğan has also referred to the visit of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the candidate of Nation Alliance for Metropolitan Mayorship of İstanbul, to the Tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Ankara, where he signed the Official Memorial Book as the Metropolitan Mayor of İstanbul:

"He doesn't even know how to write in a memorial book. If you had received the certificate of election, then, okay... But, what you did is absolutely wrong in terms of manner of protocol.

"They went astray and signed the book without receiving his certificate of election. And, what happened now? The Ministry of National Defense has taken away the memorial book from there." (PT/SD)