AKP Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala explains the reason for new party memberships: 'Opportunity to contribute'

Evaluating the hot topics on the agenda, AKP Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala made exclusive statements to Habertürk.

Here are the highlights from Ala's statements:

I express my gratitude for the trust and favor shown by our President in determining the Central Executive Committee (MYK) regarding my position as deputy chairman. We will continue our work so as not to let him down. We were in this position again after the extraordinary congress. Our change process has been continuing on a principle since the party was founded. That principle is to handle accumulation and experience together and to carry them forward. This reduces errors and multiplies solutions. There were 60 thousand people outside the congress. The inside was already packed. Even though the weather was very cold, our President gave a greeting speech from the top of the bus. There was an incredible excitement in that cold. A dynamic crowd. It was truly a tremendous congress.

"THEY ARE FIGHTING"

When we look at the developments in our region, Syria, the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia, and the Caucasus, the policies here have yielded results. Occupied lands in Karabakh were liberated. The Baath regime, which lasted more than half a century in Syria, has collapsed. Turkey's theses were successful both in the north and south. There is an incident between Ukraine and Russia, our President takes the most important initiative and conducts leaders' diplomacy. Domestically, our citizens compare us with other parties. Parties are fighting among themselves and experiencing their own crises.

"120 THOUSAND NEW MEMBERS WERE ADDED"

While running Turkey in stability and moving it towards its goals internally, we held 3,162 congresses since October. We also held women's and youth branch congresses with significant participation. The women's branches have 5.5 million members, and the youth branches have nearly 1 million. It is a large civil society member with no rival in Turkey, among the top 5 in the world. It has 11.5 million members. If you add up all the parties, go to the Court of Cassation website, the total is 2.5-3 million. The total is a quarter of the AK Party. This is a large mass. A great participation, excitement. While holding these congresses, more than 5 million of our brothers and sisters from the youth, women's branches, and the main staff participated in these congresses. 120 thousand new members were added. We met with the delegates. We discussed the problems of Turkey's regions in a participatory manner.

"A TOOL FOR PROGRESS"

When the citizen looks, there is excitement, a project, a program, a vision, and work here. What is on the other side? There, someone is incredibly saying that they were stabbed in the back, their former chairmen are turning around and saying 'dubious congress'. They end up in court. Provincial chairmen or party members say that money was distributed at the congress, that there are suspicions, and allegations are made. Internal turmoil emerges. Whenever internal turmoil arises, they start a Presidential debate to cover it up. They do it to cover up these debates, but it doesn't yield results. The interest of people in other parties in the AK Party is seen. Interest and excitement have increased. It is seen that the vision and work to realize Turkey's goals are here. 75 percent of our provincial chairmen, 65 percent of our district chairmen, and 52 percent of the MKYK have changed. Our friends serve in one place and then take on duties in other areas. Friends who are in other duties come back to the same duty. We see change as a tool for progress.

EVALUATION REGARDING MEMBERSHIPS TO AKP

We do not govern Turkey with sentences they set up for speculation among themselves without producing politics. We are very pleased that people who have been trained, have served in other parties, see what is happening around Turkey and understand the necessity of walking towards its goals, and see that being with the AK Party and our President will provide an opportunity to contribute more, are walking with us. Here, both Mr. Kürşat, Serap Hoca, Nedim Bey, and Mr. Ensarioğlu are here because they saw the opportunity to contribute more. That was their goal when joining those parties, but while those parties are busy solving their own problems, Turkey is taking the staff that will solve Turkey's problems. We are not in a bargain. We are the staff trying to govern Turkey with the project it has implemented, the investments it has made, the vision it has set, and the goals it has set since the day it was founded. Those who see this, of course, make a choice to do politics within the AK Party. We welcome this. Look, the friends who come are our friends who have proven themselves.

"WE DO NOT DO POLITICS WITH BARGAINING"

Does the People's Alliance currently have a problem with being the government? We don't do business with a bargain. It's not our style either. There is no situation to be compared with those before. We have a 3-4 year period ahead of us without elections. Politics does not fit into legislation. People evaluate this with their goals. There is also change in other parties. The citizen immediately notices its purpose. There is a mechanism here that operates within a strong alliance. We are talking about friends who say 'Let me contribute too'. There is a desire here to contribute to the vision, project, and program. If you try to limit the will in the legislation, you cannot get results. This was done before. People resigned, founded another party, and merged the parties. You set out with a party. The moment you set out, it changed its ideas. Can you tell a deputy that you have to stay there? I find such debates unnecessary. When we look at the equipment of our friends who joined the AK Party and the People's Alliance in the places they are in, people being here is a contribution to Turkey and everyone.

"WE WILL ADD TURKEY TO THE HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES GROUP"

Every time we go to a congress until today, I say that we carry out stability and change together in the deputy lists. Turkey has reached these days by making the reforms and regulations that Turkey has needed for 22 years, in parallel with the developments and changes in the world. The AK Party took reforms one after another, started EU negotiations, made constitutional reform, and made markets more trustworthy with laws. When the AK Party was founded, Turkey had received 15 billion dollars of foreign capital until then. After that, 22 billion dollars in 1 year during the AK Party governments. It attracted over 260 billion dollars of foreign capital in total. We moved Turkey to the upper group in the ranking of middle-income countries. It is currently in the upper-middle-income countries group. So where do we want to move it? To the high-income group. Now we will make reforms one after another and move Turkey to the high-income countries group. This is our goal. Our President expressed these both at the congress and after the cabinet meeting. The basic policy of the AK Party in Turkey is to ensure that it continues on its way by making regulations and reforms that will put Turkey among the 10 most powerful and developed countries in the world in every field.

"TÜSİAD'S RECORD IS NOT CLEAN"

TÜSİAD is a businessmen's association. Of course, it has an important place in Turkey's business world. However, TÜSİAD's political record is not clean. Whenever it found a gap, it evaluated the opportunity to make non-political interventions in politics. This was getting results in old Turkey. Now, at the stage we have brought, tutelage centers have been removed in Turkey. Look at TÜSİAD's statement. No one says anything about the part related to the economy. Their business is production. There is no criticism regarding what they said in this area. What kind of duty and task does TÜSİAD have regarding the investigation into military discipline at the General Staff as businessmen? It means they are on the side of oligarchy, not democracy. Reminiscent of the periods when they were fed by the state, instead of demands for more production and more exports, they are expressing opinions in an area that has nothing to do with them, a matter that should be handled entirely within the rules of the state institution itself, and they are speaking from a high pitch. Why are they making statements regarding what decisions will be made and what will happen to the lieutenants who are within the authority of the General Staff and Land Forces, which is carried out by the Ministry of National Defense? Everywhere in the world, military matters are investigated and concluded within the military. What does this have to do with the business world?

EVALUATED DISMISSALS FROM THE TSK

Previously, in such matters, they did not side with democracy, but appeared to be on the side of democracy and used the language of intervention in politics. Now, another version of this has been released to the market. We are the party that has fought against so many tutelage centers and brought it to Turkey. Both our President and we know very well what the word means. We have not reacted harshly to their evaluations regarding the economy. Why is a statement made on a matter that concerns the TSK's own internal discipline?

"INVESTIGATION INTO TÜSİAD EXECUTIVES"

We are dealing with the management of Turkey in a region that has turned into a place of fire for 85 million people. We cannot take a place by talking about everything every day, looking at it on a case-by-case basis within the work done by civil servants and the judiciary. The people there decide the matter. Duties and powers are executed, if there is a mistake, the people on the other side object with their lawyers, and the mechanism works. These debates reduce politics to cases, and then Turkey loses time. Here, by taking a very serious initiative, 'let's discuss the issues that will carry Turkey forward'. If we handle every case-based issue, we cannot get out of here. It would be wrong.

"WE DEFEND ADVANCED DEMOCRACY"

Our basic approach is for Turkey to have an advanced democracy. We have made significant progress. In this country, the most basic rights and freedoms, freedom of belief, thought, and enterprise were restricted. Children were kept waiting at university gates, mothers and fathers were not taken into the military. These were resolved with the opportunities and reforms offered by politics. Our President and we constantly state that Turkey should attain advanced democracy. We bring the constitution and system change to the agenda. We wish that the opposition would also contribute to this, let's bring Turkey together with advanced democracy. Especially the CHP, when a problem arises, points to the AK Party, our President, and us as the address of the problem. When we invite them for a solution, they don't come. The nation is tired of them, so it does not show favor. What solution proposal are you expressing? It is possible for those who are from the business world and fed by the state to form oligarchic structures, and on the other hand, it is possible to slide into populism by constantly making vague promises. It is possible to go correctly between these two wrongs, to advance in the democracy corridor. We say let's radically change the September 12 Constitution, let's meet in a constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms, that will combine with basic rights and freedoms that will ensure Turkey works better. We must produce an opportunity from here and bring Turkey together with its goals.

"WE SAY 'CONSTITUTION' FOR THE BETTER"

Since we came to Turkey, what regulations have we made regarding rights and freedoms that will bring Turkey back? A measure is one thing, policy is another. When you look at the place where the AK Party has generally brought Turkey, these are policies. There are some daily events, you take measures. When the AK Party came to power, Turkey was in the heavy atmosphere of February 28. People could not say hello to each other in their own languages. Today, broadcasting is done in Kurdish on television 24 hours a day, and broadcasting is done in other mother tongues. Everyone complains about the content of the televisions. They say let there be higher quality broadcasting. The coefficient problem, people choosing the Holy Quran and Siyer as elective courses in learning their languages. There has been change and transformation in many areas. Of course, we say new Constitution to do better. Demands sometimes come ahead of reality. I think this is what is happening in Turkey. The new generation rightly demands more. We want this too. That's why we say let's change the system. After the social media revolution, there are many question marks in the environment of freedoms felt in the world. Some segments of society completely destroy some freedoms with irresponsibility, and some are completely against it. We are doing our best to ensure that the complex situation in the world is not experienced in Turkey. We desire more democracy, but democracy is not irresponsibility, swearing at people, or insulting.

"DEMOCRACY IS NOT IRRESPONSIBILITY"

People need to both feel freedom and use it. A significant part of the issues discussed under the name of freedom of thought in Turkey right now is either insult, swearing, or threat. These are not freedom of thought. In the Gezi Park case, an attempt was made to overthrow the government, these are available in the files. These cannot receive any protection in the world under the name of freedom of thought.

"OUR PRESIDENT DOES NOT INTERRUPT ANYONE"

In our meetings, whoever thinks what, expresses their suggestions. We discuss them. Our President has a very important feature, he does not interrupt people. He listens to the end. Our other friends also express their own ideas and finally a decision is reached. This is the main reason why we say let's reform in many areas.

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BLOCKING SERVICES"

After the municipal elections, 15-16 million people are waiting for service in Istanbul. Elections were held, the next day debates started. Presidential candidacy. There were 5 years left for the Presidential candidacy at that time. There is no such thing as a problem, lawsuit, or blocking regarding municipal services. When issues related to their own private sphere, such as insults or diplomas, come to the agenda, we see the efforts to escape these from the judiciary and move them to the political arena. When an issue related to themselves comes to the agenda, they immediately move it to the political arena. They try to put it behind the curtain as if these happened because of their political identities. Whatever you ask about municipal services, there is no answer. Whenever internal party conflicts come to the agenda, suspicions are brought to the agenda by their chairmen. Whenever these come to the agenda, they make a fuss saying 'there is a political intervention'. This does not suit Turkey. Politics requires seriousness. It requires effort and being respectable. It is necessary not to engage in childish things the day after being elected mayor. Turkey's time is being wasted with these debates.

"IS THE ONLY RIVAL CANDIDATE İMAMOĞLU?"

Let's say the time for the Presidential elections in Turkey has come. Is the only rival candidate İmamoğlu? What kind of logic is this? He was elected as mayor. When there is an incident while he is supposed to be doing his mayoralty, he is caught on vacation, when he is going to make a speech, he insults someone, he moves it to another area. The judiciary has procedures. Have his rights to object within the judiciary been taken away from him? What does this have to do with other parties? Whenever they face a lawsuit, why don't they continue in their own procedure and move it to the political arena? Presidential elections are not a place to cover up anyone's shame or mistake. How many years are left for the Presidential election?

"IS THE PRESIDENT WAITING FOR SERVICE TO ISTANBUL?"

We do not do politics to realize all the projects of the opposition. We do politics to realize Turkey's projects. If he is using this seat for the Presidential election, I say he is doing both an injustice and disrespect to the Presidential office and a great disrespect and injustice to his own voters. Whatever he encounters, he shows the President as responsible. It is quite natural for our President to say this too. He has not been taking him as an interlocutor for a very long time. He said it that day. He actually exposed something. He talks about the services he did not do, he hangs their posters. Our President is in love with Istanbul. As the head of state, he wants the mayor to serve Istanbul. He brought this country to a place by working day and night and is trying to bring it to its goals.

"IT HAS BEEN GETTING RESULTS FOR 22 YEARS"

When our President was first a candidate, all parties united. We are currently talking about service to Turkey. Service brings success after it. We start serving after we get the votes. We fulfill the promises we made. We go to the nation and make promises again. We did it that way. The system we implement is not broken, it is the right method that has been getting results for 22 years. We are talking about Turkey, Turkey's problems. These are also getting results. Research is being done, saying how can we get more votes means how can we produce more service. We are always talking about these.

"WE ARE WAITING FOR THE CALL TO LAY DOWN ARMS"

As the People's Alliance, there was a statement by Mr. Devlet Bahçeli, followed by a declaration of will by our President. We have handled this issue seriously since the AK Party was founded. It continues on its way by creating new traditions that are out of the ordinary in this regard as well. Here, we are carrying out our work with the goal of a Turkey without terrorism. Turkey must get rid of these shackles. We see what is happening around Turkey. Daily debates, some polemics may be pleasing, but we really want this country not to suffer, to get rid of those shackles, and for 85 million not to suffer. Let's provide a Turkey without terrorism now. A lot of price was paid. Our people lost their lives, our martyrs gave their lives for this homeland, many of our brothers and sisters became veterans. A call to lay down arms can be made right now. We are waiting for this too. Politics does not just wait for something. It does work for what is expected to be done. We have done work so that there is a Turkey without terrorism. We wish for these works to yield results. Everyone should contribute to this. In all likelihood, results can be obtained. I am cautiously optimistic here, in quotation marks. There are too many actors involved, foreign countries, intelligence agencies. We are doing our best so that we can achieve success here too. If everyone does their part, less cost will be paid.

IS A TURKEY WITHOUT TERRORISM BEING REACHED?

Every party has its own policy. Now, when compared with what happened in previous periods, there is optimism now. At the very least, it is very important for Turkey that there is a broad consensus and agreement that a Turkey without terrorism is in everyone's favor. This should not be in words; it really needs to be supported. Assad was a regime of oppression, the collapse of the Baath regime has strengthened the opportunities a little more. Very important developments took place there. The Assad regime was supporting the terrorist organization. Developments in Syria are capable of making important contributions.

"WE ARE FOLLOWING A MULTI-POLAR POLICY"

Turkey is following a multi-polar foreign policy. Our President is truly one of the few leaders who influence regional crises and global trends in the world. Our nation standing like a fortress for 22 years is Turkey's greatest strength. Our President is evaluating this very well at a time when leaders' diplomacy is gaining weight. From Africa to Central Asia. We are following a multi-polar policy from Europe to Asia. The South Asia visit was also concrete proof of how effective AK Party foreign policy is. There was an incredible welcome in Indonesia. It really shows how much the expressions our President voiced as the conscience of humanity resonate. Atrocities in Gaza are being broadcast live, in front of the eyes of the nation and the world. Not a sound. Great powers are calling out to the oppressors. In such a world, it shows how much the voice of 'the world is bigger than 5' resonates. Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, when you add these up, I watch the criticisms inside with sadness. It smells a bit of ignorance. Politics requires effort and struggle.

"OUR PRESIDENT USES LEADERS' DIPLOMACY WELL"

The population of 3 countries is more than the EU population. An economy of over 2 trillion, 550 million people. In such a world, Turkey is welcomed with great excitement. Our President is seeing incredible favor. Anwar Ibrahim, the President of Malaysia, one of the important figures of the Islamic world, said a very important thing, 'Mr. Erdoğan has made his country a global power, its effects are felt beyond the borders'. There was serious work in them too. Shehbaz Sharif also said, "Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made Turkey one of the fastest-growing countries". Let the opposition walk on different policies. You criticize the policies of the party in power, when you work for it to be unsuccessful, it means you are blocking Turkey's way. If they look at Turkey from the outside, let's see what they see? The AK Party has become an address in solving the problems of the citizens. I do not wish for the nation's faith to be damaged.