Ali Babacan's statement on Erdoğan's candidacy: "He should not push it any further"

DEVA Party Chairman Ali Babacan met with CHP Chairman Özgür Özel. Speaking to the press alongside CHP Chairman Özgür Özel following the meeting held at the DEVA Party Headquarters, Babacan said the following:

"OUR COUNTRY'S REAL AGENDA IS THE COST OF LIVING"

"We evaluated the general situation of the country together. We shared common concerns. Our citizens' number one agenda—go out on the street and ask a hundred people—is about problems related to the cost of living. They talk about unemployment, they say poverty has become very widespread. And this is actually our country's real, genuine agenda. This is the number one agenda."

"SUCCESS IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT LAW AND JUSTICE" 

"When we look back at the causes, when we look at why we are experiencing these problems, any issue related to law and justice eventually circles back and hits the economy. When we look at where we stand regarding law and justice, you know that the Rule of Law Index was released in the last two weeks. The Transparency Index was released, international indices... Turkey is at the bottom in both. When you cannot achieve a certain performance or reach a certain point in law and justice, it is not possible to achieve success in the economy. It hasn't happened, and it won't happen..."

"THE VOICE OF TRADESPEOPLE AND SMES IS THE VOICE OF THIS COUNTRY'S FUTURE"

"Whether it is the Union of Chambers or TÜSİAD, these are truly important institutions. The Union of Chambers has a much broader membership base. It represents many organizations, including small tradespeople and SMEs. The stances expressed by both organizations are important in terms of the masses they represent. However, I said this in a television program a few days ago. The government has put the business world under serious pressure. The more workers you employ, the larger your business, the greater that pressure can be. But what is important is this: Do we want a handful of rich people in Turkey, or do we want collective enrichment? A country where the stick of the judiciary is used, where only government-backed firms can do business while others find it difficult, becomes a country where income distribution is distorted, poverty increases, and only a handful of wealthy people remain. Therefore, if the business world wants a transparent business environment with competition, if it wants a country where law and justice function and where there is collective enrichment, then their voices regarding the country's issues need to be a bit stronger. Therefore, the statement made by TÜSİAD today is positive. We say yes, but we say it is not enough. We want a stronger voice. Because the voice of tradespeople and SMEs is the voice of this country's future. And the voice of tradespeople and SMEs is these two organizations, TÜSİAD and TOBB."

"WHICHEVER PARTY IS FACING AN UNJUST JUDICIAL PROCESS, WE STAND BY THAT PARTY"

"Especially in these recent months, the pressure the government has increasingly exerted on the opposition through the judiciary, the pressure on municipalities, the pressure on the media and journalists, the pressure on civil society and the business world, and finally the pressure on the art community is unacceptable. The two most important indicators of whether democracy is functioning well in a country are freedoms—freedom of expression and freedom of the press—and whether the law and judiciary are functioning; these are perhaps the two most important criteria of democracy. Especially if the government is using the judiciary to maintain its power, ignoring the separation of powers and throwing the entire system of checks and balances into the trash, if it is constantly holding the stick of the judiciary over the opposition and the media, this is not an acceptable situation. On these issues, we categorically stand by whichever party is being subjected to an unjust judicial process, regardless of which party it is, and we clearly express our support. We demonstrate our stance clearly, both by participating in actual events and through the support provided by our strong legal team."

"WE MUST BE DEFENDERS OF LAW AND JUSTICE"

"We see that the CHP has also been subjected to intense pressure through the judiciary in the recent period. I convey my best wishes once again to the Youth Branch President. There is increasing pressure on municipalities. There is pressure on other parties as well. But these pressures will not intimidate any of us. No matter how much pressure comes, we must be defenders of elections, law, and justice to pave the way for democracy in Turkey. The most important reason for the existence of political parties, especially those in the opposition, is—no matter what anyone says—to defend and sustain freedoms in Turkey and to never give up in the struggle for law and justice... We had a good exchange of views on these issues; in fact, we confirmed once again in this meeting how close our approaches are. I thank the esteemed Chairman once again for his visit."

"IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR US TO COMMENT ON A PARTY'S INTERNAL PROCESS"

"In the past, in the old system, the Prime Ministry was a truly important position. Political parties and their chairmen were competing with the goal and claim of becoming the country's prime minister. In the current system, the Presidency has become a very important issue, a position elected directly by the people's vote. Undoubtedly, the process by which each political party determines its own presidential candidate is its own internal process. Each party respects and observes the internal processes of the others. It is not possible for us to comment on a party's internal process."

"GOVERNING THE COUNTRY WITH A 'I DON'T RECOGNIZE THE LAW, I DO WHAT I WANT' STYLE CAN DRAG THE COUNTRY INTO A SWAMP"

"In democracies, the will of the people is essential. Being elected, the ballot box is the sacred element of democracy. But at the same time, democracies derive meaning from the law. If we see a democracy without law as consisting only of the ballot box, it could even lead the country to chaos. Governing the country with a style where the elected say, 'I am elected, I don't recognize the law, I do what I want,' can drag the country into a swamp. We look at this issue entirely from a principled perspective."

"USING STATE POWER FOR A LONG TIME CAUSES POWER POISONING"

"When we look at it from a principled perspective, there is a Constitution here, and our evaluation is based on this Constitution... This is already Mr. Erdoğan's third term. We are a political party that has submitted a petition to the Supreme Election Council (YSK) regarding this. You know, before the 2023 elections, we submitted a petition and said that this is now Mr. Erdoğan's third term, therefore it is not possible for him to be a candidate again. The YSK evaluated it differently; they said, 'The constitution changed in 2017, we reset the odometer, he has the right again.' We do not agree. When we make an evaluation from a legal perspective, we have a consistent line; one that comes from before the 2023 elections. This is one. The second is universal principles of governance. It is a fact established in our recent history and in many geographies of the world that using state power for a long time causes power poisoning. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"ERDOĞAN'S SIGNATURE IS UNDER THE THREE-TERM RULE"

"The three-term rule was written into the AK Party's founding charter so that there would be no leader tyranny and so that there would be a pleasant turnover of human resources in political parties; Mr. Erdoğan also has his signature on this charter. We had put that three-term rule in place back then by anticipating these things. Therefore, when we look at it from the perspective of universal governance principles and also look at the AK Party's founding charter, we, as an old friend, advise Mr. Erdoğan to carry out a transition process that will pave the way for others."

"IT IS NOT RIGHT TO PUSH IT ANY FURTHER"

"Therefore, whether we look at it from the perspective of the Constitution, the AK Party's founding charter, or universal governance principles, we do not think it is right for him to be a candidate again. The YSK might make a different evaluation, or perhaps the Parliament might decide on an early election in some way. They might say, 'We looked, we paved the way,' this or that... Forced things can be done. But we do not think it is right to push this any further. We think this for the sake of our country. In fact, we remind all our citizens who have affection for the AK Party and Mr. Erdoğan of this truth once again."

News Source: 12punto