AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan: 'We are not involved in the debates within the CHP'

Making statements after the Cabinet Meeting, Erdoğan commented on the country's political agenda. Regarding the developments within the CHP, Erdoğan stated, "We are not involved in the debates within the CHP."

Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements:

While the joy of the holiday embraces our hearts, on the other hand, the pain of the 70 citizens we lost in traffic accidents has seared the hearts of all of us as a nation.

I pray to Almighty Allah for mercy upon all our brothers and sisters we lost in traffic accidents and patience for their relatives. I also pray to the Almighty for a speedy recovery for our citizens whose treatments are ongoing.

Although we cannot tolerate even a single person getting hurt, both the number of fatal accidents and the number of deaths and injuries have decreased this year compared to previous years.

As a result of measures such as new roads, intensive traffic regulations, air-supported inspections, and heavy vehicle restrictions, significant improvements have been achieved in traffic safety.

I would like to thank our law enforcement officers and highway personnel who worked selflessly so that our citizens could travel safely during the 9-day holiday, when vehicle and human mobility reached its peak.

When we took office, there was no strong transportation network connecting the four corners of Turkey.

Today, we have a giant transportation infrastructure that stretches from the east to the west, from the north to the south of our country.

With the motto "Road is civilization," we have made massive investments in our country's transportation infrastructure over the last 23 years. We have signed off on investments amounting to 206 billion dollars in highways, 80 billion dollars in railways, and 35.5 billion dollars in airlines.

Thanks to our investments, we have increased the length of divided roads, which was 6 thousand 101 kilometers in 2002, to 30 thousand 51 kilometers today.

While only 6 of our provinces were connected to each other by divided roads in our country, today 77 of our provinces are connected by dual carriageways.

I would like to draw your attention to this in particular. In 2002, while the total number of vehicles in our country was 8.5 million, our average intercity speed was only 40 kilometers per hour. Today, even though the number of vehicles in our country has exceeded 33.6 million, our average travel speed has increased to approximately 90 kilometers per hour.

With divided road investments, we have significantly increased traffic safety, travel speed, and comfort.

Especially, thank God, there has been a major decrease in traffic accidents caused by head-on collisions.

Along with divided roads, we have more than doubled our motorway length. We took over our motorways at 1,714 kilometers and increased them to 3,796 kilometers.

We crossed mountains with tunnels, and valleys and streams with bridges and viaducts. We increased the length of bridges and viaducts, which was 311 kilometers, to 821 kilometers. We increased the tunnel length, which was only 50 kilometers, to 856 kilometers.

Railway is another area we prioritize and give importance to. Turkey met the comfort of high-speed trains for the first time during our term.

322 thousand of our passengers used our high-speed train lines, which reached 2,251 kilometers, during the holiday.

By making airlines the people's way, we offered the facilities that were once only enjoyed by the elite to the benefit of our nation.

"ISTANBUL AIRPORT BROKE A RECORD"

While we had 26 airports in 2002, today we serve approximately 250 million passengers annually with our 58 airports.

Our Istanbul Airport, which roaming vandals burned and destroyed 13 years ago so that it 'would not be built,' is now shown among the most prestigious airports in the world.

Our airport, which the protesters said "No plane will land here," broke a record yesterday with 1,730 aircraft traffic.

During the holiday, 1 million 402 thousand passengers were served with 8,170 aircraft traffic at Sabiha Gökçen Airport, 1 million 456 thousand passengers with 8,408 aircraft traffic at Antalya Airport, 382 thousand passengers with 2,557 aircraft traffic at Esenboğa Airport, and 398 thousand passengers with 2,557 aircraft traffic at Adnan Menderes Airport.

While some only produce talk, we have produced work and services for 23 years. We have implemented vision projects that will change the face of Turkey.

The impact of our transportation investments on production reaches 2 trillion dollars. The annual average employment impact of these investments is around 1 million 200 thousand.

In addition to their contributions to the economy, thanks to these investments, waste of time and fuel has been prevented, environmental pollution has been reduced, and additional value-added production has been ensured in many sectors from tourism to agriculture.

ANNOUNCED THE PROJECT CONNECTING 42 CITIES

We will continue our investments in the field of transportation without slowing down.

In 2025, we opened 55 projects to service, including the Aydın-Denizli Motorway, the second stages of the Konya and Malatya Ring Roads, and the domestic and international terminal buildings of Antalya Airport.

Our goal for 2026 is to offer a total of 188 projects, 144 of which are highways, to the benefit of our people.

We have accelerated our work on the Ankara-Kırıkkale-Delice Motorway, which will connect 42 of our cities in particular.

We will hopefully put this project, which is 120 kilometers long and includes 7 junctions, 4 tunnels, 8 viaducts, and 22 junction bridges, into service next year.

On the third day of Eid al-Adha, we celebrated the 573rd anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, one of the most magnificent victories in our history, with pride as a nation.

We also experienced the enthusiasm of the conquest together with thousands of our brothers and sisters who filled the garden of the Haliç Congress Center.

With the liberation of Istanbul from Byzantine occupation, hearts were truly conquered. Constantinople, taken from Byzantium as a ruined city, was transformed into a magnificent Turkish-Islamic city that Yahya Kemal called "Turkish Istanbul" with Sultan Fatih's development mobilization based on foundations.

Hagia Sophia, from whose minarets the Muhammadan call to prayer rises, also became a symbol of the good news of the conquest. However, this symbol was left sad and bowed for many years. After 86 years of longing, we broke the chains on the door of Hagia Sophia, the trust of Fatih, and thank God, we closed this wound opened in the bosom of the conquest.

Hagia Sophia, which was tearful and sorrowful for years, has regained its distinguished place in our civilization as a blessed banner rising from the bosom of Istanbul with the recitation of the Holy Quran echoing in its dome and the Muhammadan calls to prayer adorning its minarets.

''ISTANBUL IS TURKISH, IT IS MUSLIM''

Even though the remnants of Byzantium, who defiled the walls of Istanbul with writings saying "Oppression began in 1453," still have difficulty accepting it, Istanbul is Turkish, it is Muslim; and with God's permission, it will remain Turkish and Muslim until the doomsday.

I would like to underline and state once again that we will never allow Istanbul to be torn away from the spirit of conquest and Fatih.

We will not leave this cherished city to the mercy of the incompetent who do not know the job, do not know history, and do not know the value of staff.

We will continue to serve Istanbul, invest in this beautiful city, and sign off on giant projects worthy of Istanbul.

I commemorate Sultan Fatih, that great commander who attained the good news of our Prophet, and all the soldiers of his heroic army with mercy.

''NONE OF THE DISCUSSIONS WITHIN THE MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY CONCERN US''

We are not in a race to compete in words with anyone, but in a race to prepare a brighter future for our beloved nation, whose sacred trust we carry.

We are focusing only on this, and we are occupying our minds only with this. None of the discussions within the main opposition party concern us.

We are not, have not been, and will not be any part of this political and legal struggle that has spilled over from party congress halls to courthouse corridors.

Those who try to create unrest for their political ambitions should not forget that the essence of these lands does not give credit to violence, street terror, and lawlessness.

We, for our part, will not allow our streets to be stirred up, our nation to be polarized, or our people to be pitted against our security forces under any pretext. In such a sensitive period, no one has the right, and cannot have the right, to distract Turkey's attention or disrupt the harmony of our nation's heart.

Our country does not need new versions of petty squabbles, but rather to meet on common ground, reach a consensus, and join forces on issues that concern all 86 million, especially our Terror-Free Turkey process. It is the duty of the political institution to handle the Terror-Free Turkey process away from all kinds of polemics and to contribute sincerely to the efforts for a solution.

As the government and the alliance, we will continue to take care to be constructive, embracing, and unifying, just as we have been until today. While doing this, we will prioritize the interests of our nation and continue to keep Turkey's future above all kinds of political considerations.

News Source: 12punto