President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announces his party's election manifesto: What are the AKP's promises?

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced the AKP's 8-point election manifesto.

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's remarks:

"The President was determined by direct popular vote for the first time in 2014. The presidential and parliamentary elections held in 2018 and in May 2023, which Turkey has gone through, have taken their place among the important turning points in our country's history. Local elections are following a similar course. We will hold the 15th mayoral election of the multi-party era on March 31, again as a festival of democracy.

I believe that we will emerge from this test on March 31 with our heads held high once again. For example, it is not about winning the most mayoralties. It will give us strength in our effort to bring our country to the place it deserves in the world.

We are a cadre that started our journey of service to the country and the nation in municipalities 30 years ago. After coming to power, we brought works and services to every inch of our homeland. We built our future first with our 2023 goals, and then with our Century of Turkey vision."

"REAL MUNICIPALISM; WE ARE READY, WE ARE DETERMINED"

As the AK Party, we took our first exam in local elections in 2004, saying, "White hands, white provinces, local development begins." Then, in 2009, we aspired to serve our cities again with the slogan, "Everything for Turkey, our work is service, our power is the nation." In 2014, when attempts at political and social chaos reached their peak, we appeared before our citizens with the message, "Always the nation, always service; the nation does not bow, Turkey is invincible." In 2019, when the last local elections were held, we rushed to the ballot box with the excitement of "A matter of the homeland, a matter of the heart." We are heading to the March 31, 2024 elections, which we will hold at another important period for our country, by saying, "Real municipalism; we are ready, we are determined."

The Century of Turkey covers our cities just as it covers every area of our lives, from politics to the economy, from diplomacy to security.

MANIFESTO CONSISTING OF 8 SECTIONS

We have determined the title of our election manifesto as "Real municipalism for the cities of the Century of Turkey." The Century of Turkey covers our cities just as it covers every area of our lives, from politics to the economy, from diplomacy to security.

Our manifesto consists of 8 sections. The first section is "AK Party's vision for local government"... The second section is "participation, transparency, and accountability"... The third section is "resilient cities"... The fourth section is "city and environment in the Century of Turkey"... The fifth section is "city economies prioritizing social welfare"... The sixth section is "sensitive and inclusive social municipalism"... The seventh section is "cities that produce culture"... And the eighth section bears the title "service and works municipalism."

"WE HAVE PLACED OUR PROMISE OF REAL MUNICIPALISM AT THE CENTER OF OUR CAMPAIGN"

This manifesto is both a summary of the municipal experience of the AK Party, which has now turned into a brand, and a document of the promises we have made to our nation for the new term. The AK Party, as in every field, is competing with itself in municipalism. In this regard, we have not yet seen a local government vision and practice that can come to the same level as ours, let alone surpass the AK Party. Our nation has seen by experience that those who took over municipal administrations from us in the previous election have made no contribution other than causing our cities to lose 5 years. For this reason, we have placed our promise of "real municipalism" at the center of our election campaign.

"EVERY MUNICIPALITY BENEFITS FAIRLY"

Our goal is to save our cities and the people living there from this whirlpool of lack of service, from this illusion of show and agency municipalism. There can be no excuse for not producing works, for not bringing service to the public. Do not pay attention to some people's rhetoric of "we were blocked"... All of these consist of nonsense and avoiding responsibility. Our ministries and institutions have repeatedly announced the share these municipalities receive from the resources transferred from the public to the municipalities. Whatever is given to other municipalities, and according to which criteria the allocation is made, the same applies to them. Without one less or one more, every municipality benefits from public resources in a fair manner.

The most important feature of a successful administrator is to manage the budget, human resources, and money correctly. When I took over the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), our debt was 2.5 billion dollars; when I handed it over, it was 1.5 billion dollars; now the İBB has a debt of 3.5 billion dollars. Their only concern is to cover up their own incompetence and to hide the fact that they use the resources given to them for other purposes.

"OUR MINISTRIES DO NOT ACT ACCORDING TO THE MAYOR'S PARTY"

When our ministries and institutions plan and implement projects related to our cities, they do not act according to the election results or the mayor's party. The only place we focus on is the need of our country and our cities, and the expectations of our nation. As a matter of fact, the metro line we opened in Istanbul just yesterday, built by our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, is the latest and concrete example of this understanding. Similarly, the City Hospital we opened in İzmir is another example. Each of Turkey's 81 provinces has received and continues to receive the share it needs from our democracy and development breakthroughs, investments, projects, and actions.

"HEART-CENTERED MUNICIPALISM"

Our cities are tired, weary, and fed up with just looking at the shadows of these people whose services they cannot see, just watching their posters, and just being exposed to their propaganda... Hopefully, on March 31, these shadows will be lifted from our cities, and our people will attain the productivity of real municipalism, of heart-centered municipalism. For this, we are struggling everywhere and in every field to develop, grow, and strengthen our country with the politics of works and service. The rest is empty talk.

"WE HAVE FOLLOWED UP ON EVERY PROMISE WE MADE"

We have followed up on every promise we made during election periods, and we have implemented every project of ours. We have also accounted to our nation with an open heart for the promises we could not fulfill or delayed for any reason.

We always tell our mayors that, in addition to fulfilling basic municipal activities properly, their doors and hearts should be open to every member of their fellow citizens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also suggest the same mode of action to our organization members, our deputies, and the friends we work with in the bureaucracy.

It is unthinkable for those who serve the country and the nation with such an approach to discriminate between our cities or our people, let alone engage in political bigotry. For this reason, like our previous 2023 goals, we see our current Century of Turkey vision as the common value of our country and the common dream of our people.

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE MANIFESTO

Our vision, upon which our election manifesto is built, is the product of our 30 years of municipal experience and the global power level our country has reached with its political, economic, and military strength. I would like to briefly recall here some of the basic principles of our vision, the details of which are in our printed manifesto book.

As the AK Party, we believe that democracy and development start locally. We have kept this path open by strengthening the administrative and financial capacities of local governments through reforms. By reinforcing the human-centered, service-oriented understanding, we have brought our nation together with its dreams.

While solving the accumulated problems of cities from unplanned urbanization to infrastructure, from transportation to zoning, we saw this only as a beginning. We have continuously raised the standards of our politics of works and service in accordance with the country's increasing power and the nation's increasing standard of living.

While bringing infrastructure and superstructure projects to cities, we took into account the needs of the future, not just today. We prioritized projects, investments, and plans that prioritize urban aesthetics and protect the unique architecture and identity of cities. We attached importance to carrying tradition to the future by preserving the historical heritage of cities.

We supported every step that strengthens participation, inclusivity, transparency, and accountability. With heart-centered municipalism, we have established a new service standard in local administrations. We have made a mindset that empathizes with people's troubles, signs innovative practices in social municipalism, and touches all segments of society dominant.

"CITIES OF THE CENTURY OF TURKEY"

With projects that produce value, we have put forward exemplary practices in cultural municipalism. While branding "AK Party Municipalism" with all these steps, we have constantly competed with ourselves. Now, we are before our nation with a brand-new vision that complements these principles. We want to crown our innovative approaches based on our long-standing municipal experience and accumulation with the "Cities of the Century of Turkey."

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

In this direction, our priorities in local governments in the new term will be as follows: We will establish disaster-resistant, resilient, and robust settlements. We will make our cities compatible with climate change. We will establish infrastructures compatible with smart applications and new-generation digital technologies. We will strengthen the local government understanding that is focused on local development and whose economy produces value.

We will develop social municipalism services that are sensitive to young people, children, the elderly, the disabled, women, and all segments of society, and have high inclusivity. We will support local governments that act with the understanding of a strong family and a strong society.

We will carry out projects that uphold the concept of culture and civilization, and protect and carry these values to future generations. We will be on the side of sustainable municipal administrations that are sensitive to the environment and natural life, have adopted a green development policy, and implement the zero-waste model.

We will leave cities with clean air, water, soil, and environment to our children. We will equip our country with peaceful and safe cities whose architecture is aesthetic and whose historical and cultural assets are protected. By raising living standards in rural areas, we will encourage people to stay where they were born and raised. We will not compromise on our understanding of effective, efficient, fair, transparent, and responsible municipal management.

13 BASIC HEADINGS

We will prepare our municipalities for the future with administrations that focus on participation, quality service production, and citizen satisfaction. We are building our promise of "real municipalism," which forms the essence of our vision, on these 13 basic headings:

Productive, fair, accessible, visionary, compassionate, sustainable, innovative, developmental, contemporary, strong, inclusive, dynamic, patriotic municipalism.

Here are the contributions that real municipalism practices based on these principles will make to our country: Real municipalism will facilitate the daily life of our people with productive, dynamic, contemporary, and rational projects. It will give confidence to all individuals with a fair, transparent, and responsible management approach. It will be accessible, will take into account everyone's demands and opinions, and will establish the necessary communication networks for this. It will make the future predictable with visionary projects.

It will add value by taking care of our cities with all the living things within them with its compassion. It will act by knowing its responsibilities towards the world and humanity with sustainable solutions. It will be a representative of a broad worldview with innovative and open-to-change steps. It will mobilize the city's potential with developmental practices that it constantly supports with new resources.

It will integrate the city with its people by spreading education, which is the basis of all work, to all areas of life with its professional, cultural, and personal dimensions. With an inclusive approach, it will ensure that everyone, especially disadvantaged groups, can benefit from services and opportunities. It will ensure that young people can use their dynamism in the most correct way for themselves and their cities. It will look to its future with confidence with cities consisting of people who know, recognize, live, and pass on their values to new generations.

Of course, for all of this, real municipalism will ensure that local administrators are always by the side of our citizens at every step and every moment with their diligence and determination. In essence, with all these principles, approaches, and goals, each of which we can equip with dozens or hundreds of headings, we will build the "Cities of the Century of Turkey" brick by brick.

"THOSE OUTSIDE THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE..."

Making investments that will meet all the needs of our country, our cities, and our people will continue as our routine activity. However, we will continue on our path by moving the center of our focus much further. It is not easy to continue on the path as a country that is a monument of trust and stability in a region that is the center of a significant portion of the conflicts in the world.

There are certainly problems, troubles, and difficulties that we need to solve in every field from politics to the economy. As the administration that brought our country to its current power, security, and welfare level, we are again the address for the solution of existing problems. If one pays attention, parties and politicians outside the People's Alliance (Cumhur İttifakı) already have no such agenda.

"YOU WILL GET NOTHING FROM THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE"

Turkey has paid the price for agendas based on daily politics, daily polemics, and daily strife for many years in the form of backwardness, neglect, and political and economic tutelage. The last 30 years in municipalities and the last 21 years in power have been the period in which we broke this vicious cycle and made our country experience the greatest breakthroughs in the history of the Republic.

Today, we continue on our path with the same purpose and excitement. But there is still a mentality in our country that wants to revive the diseases of the old Turkey and imprison our country in a vicious cycle again. Some of them, for ideological reasons, some with different internal and external interest connections, and some entirely because of their own ambitions or incompetence, are trying to pull the country down by its legs.

Except for some rhetoric that we see as the twist of politics, we use our time and energy only to walk towards our goals. We say to those whose ambition exceeds their height, do not get your hopes up, you will get nothing from the AK Party and the People's Alliance. Of course, we are not leaving the field to those who come at us with dirty campaigns built on lies, slander, distortion, and perception games. There is no lie that will not melt away in the face of the sun of truth.

On this matter, our interlocutor is directly our nation. Even though some do not want to see, hear, or understand, this is our understanding and method of politics. We would not trade anything for a "May God be pleased with you" prayer that comes from the heart of our people. We are preparing for the upcoming elections with our candidates in this way.

News Source: 12punto