Fatih Erbakan: 'We do not regret supporting the People's Alliance'

Yeniden Refah Party (YRP) Chairman Fatih Erbakan attended the Traditional Istanbul Suriçi Meetings organized by the Istanbul Suriçi Group. During the meeting, Erbakan made statements regarding his party's support for the People's Alliance, emphasizing that they do not regret this decision.

When asked, "Have you ever said, 'I wish I hadn't supported the People's Alliance'?" Erbakan replied, "If we had not taken this step, we might have felt responsible. Therefore, we do not feel any regret. We would have asked ourselves, 'If we had taken such a step, would we have been instrumental in such a good cause, would we have been instrumental in them taking these steps?' But now, at least, we no longer carry that burden."

'85 PERCENT OF THE PUBLIC IS BELOW THE POVERTY LINE'

In his speech, Fatih Erbakan also touched upon the economic situation in Turkey. Stating that retirees and minimum wage earners are struggling to survive below the hunger threshold, Erbakan said, "Research conducted in Turkey shows that 45 percent of the public is below the hunger threshold, and 85 percent is below the poverty line."

Addressing the situation in Gaza, Erbakan said, "Iraq, Arakan, Kashmir, East Turkestan... We watched them all together. Now we are watching Gaza." Emphasizing that the Islamic world must be strong, Erbakan said, "Turkey must lead the Islamic world. These things do not happen with talk, words, or condemnation. The 57 Muslim countries must be brought together under Turkey's leadership."

'WE DO NOT FEEL ANY REGRET'

Erbakan described his party's process of joining the People's Alliance with the following words:

"From the date we founded our Yeniden Refah Party, they told us, 'There is a President raised by our teacher Erbakan somewhere. He is from the Welfare Party, from the National View (Milli Görüş), and they are currently in power. Wouldn't it be faster if you implemented what you are describing together with them?' We evaluated the alliance offer on May 14 in this context. We have no conditions for joining the alliance. We have no expectations for parliamentary seats, ministries, or any worldly gain. We only wanted steps to be taken for the benefit of the nation."

Emphasizing that the party has been fighting for specific goals following the alliance decision, Erbakan said, "We said, 'If that is the case, let's sign a memorandum of understanding.' These were signed. We said we would follow up on the implementation. And thus, we extended an olive branch to them to turn back from these mistakes. Now, if we had not taken this step, we might have felt responsible. Therefore, we do not feel any regret," he said.