Echoes of March 31 continue: Criticism and rebellion at the AKP's Kızılcahamam retreat!
Harsh criticism emerged at the AKP's 31st Consultation and Evaluation Meeting held in Kızılcahamam. It was learned that at the meeting, where AKP founders and some former deputies spoke, the party leadership was criticized with remarks such as, "You are sitting there as if nothing happened."
12punto
In the AKP, which suffered a defeat in the March 31 Local Elections, the reasons for the loss continue to be investigated.
In this direction, the AKP, which entered a 3-day retreat in Kızılcahamam, made evaluations regarding the election results.
According to the report by Yücel Kayaoğlu from Türkiye Gazetesi, which is known for its proximity to the government; at the AKP's 31st Consultation and Evaluation Meeting, AKP founders and some former members of parliament directed harsh criticism at the party leadership.
"WE HAVE BECOME DISCONNECTED FROM THE PUBLIC"
In the retreat, where mostly the party's founders and some former deputies took the floor, the party leadership's focus on evaluating the election through figures without offering any self-criticism drew backlash. Those who took the floor told the deputy chairmen, "This is not how an election evaluation is done. We came from among the people, but we are currently disconnected from the public. You have not made any self-criticism. You are brushing off the election defeat with numbers. Do you have no fault in this result? It seems you are not taking any responsibility."
"YOU ARE BLAMING EVERYTHING ON THE ECONOMY, SPARE US THAT"
It was learned that one of the harshest criticisms came from AKP Ankara Deputy Vedat Bilgin. It was stated that Bilgin directed the following criticisms: "You drowned us in numbers. Is this how a consultation is held? Since this is a family meeting, we will talk about everything. Why can't a real analysis be made? From your speeches, we conclude that the economy was 70 percent effective in the election results. Spare us that. You say, 'We conducted surveys, this is what came out.' You are blaming everything on the economy."
"WE DID OUR BEST"
It was stated that Deputy Chairman Efkan Âlâ responded to the criticisms at the retreat. Âlâ said, "We did our best for the elections. We will not sit here forever. We will be here, or we won't. We see this as a relay race. The economy was also effective in the election results. But if we had carried out reforms in 5-6 areas, we would have achieved a different result. We will carry out reforms in 10 separate areas regarding the upcoming process. If each of these brings one point to the AK Party, that makes 10 points. Just as we took these steps in the past and won elections, we will take them again, and we will win again."
BUREAUCRACY REBELLION
At the meeting, criticisms were directed at ministers and the bureaucracy. AKP Bursa Deputy Mustafa Varank stated, "We pass laws in Parliament because the bureaucracy wants them. No one looks at the pros and cons. This is not how legislative work is done. Our duty should not be to fulfill the requests of the bureaucracy."
At the Kızılcahamam retreat, Group Deputy Chairman Leyla Şahin Usta explained the findings from the consultation meetings they held with deputies as the group management. Usta said, "The biggest complaint of our deputy friends was not being able to reach ministers, deputy ministers, and bureaucrats. Only two of our friends are exceptions. No criticism was directed at our Minister of Energy and our Deputy Minister of Justice Ramazan Can."