«Σιδηρά Κυρία» της Τουρκίας ιδρύει κόμμα για να αντιταχθεί στον Ερντογάν

Η Τουρκάλα πρώην υπουργός Εσωτερικών, Μεράλ Άκσεναρ, η οποία είναι γνωστή από τη συμμετοχή της στο Κόμμα του Εθνικιστικού Κινήματος, ανήγγειλε την ίδρυση ενός νέου πολιτικού φορέα που έχει ως κεντρικό στόχο να αντιταχθεί στον πρόεδρο της Τουρκίας Ρετζέπ Ταγίπ Ερντογάν κατά τις εκλογές του Νοεμβρίου του ’19, όπως σημειώνει λιβανικό δημοσίευμα.

Η Άκσεναρ στο διάγγελμά της υποσχέθηκε ότι θα εργασθεί για μια ‘ισχυρή και ευτυχισμένη’ Τουρκία, για την αναγέννηση της χώρας που μαστίζεται από τη διαφθορά εδώ και 15 χρόνια, όπως είπε σε ομιλία της στην Άγκυρα με την ευκαιρία του κόμματος της «İyi Parti»-[Καλό Κόμμα].
Η 61χρονη Τουρκάλα που χαρακτηρίζεται ως ‘σιδηρά κυρία’ ήταν αυτή που κατά το δημοψήφισμα για επέκταση των αρμοδιοτήτων του προέδρου Ερντογάν και τη μεταβολή από το κοινοβουλευτικό σε προεδρικό σύστημα, είχε πρωτοστατήσει εναντίον του.

«Θέλουμε μια δίκαιη Τουρκία», «Θέλουμε μια ελεύθερη κοινωνία», «Έχουμε ελπίδα και όνειρα», δήλωσε η Άκσενερ.

Σύμφωνα με το δημοσίευμα στη συγκέντρωσή της παραβρέθηκαν χιλιάδες υποστηρικτές της νέας σύνθεσης. Η ιδρύτρια ευελπιστεί στην προσέγγιση βουλευτών από το Κόμμα του Εθνικιστικού Κινήματος και από το κυβερνών της Δικαιοσύνης και Ανάπτυξης.

Το εικαστικό σύνθημα του νέου κόμματος είναι ένας κίτρινος ήλιος σε μπλε φόντο και φωτογραφία του ιδρυτή της σύγχρονης Τουρκίας, Μουσταφά Κεμάλ Ατατούρκ.
(alahednews.com.lb)

Σημείωση: Αναλυτική αναφορά στο πρακτορείο Reuters
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The Hellenic Information Team

Former Turkish minister launches party to challenge Erdogan

ANKARA (Reuters) - A prominent Turkish nationalist politician and former minister announced on Wednesday she was forming a new party which could pose a significant challenge to President Tayyip Erdogan in elections due within two years.

Meral Aksener, a former Turkish interior minister and deputy parliament speaker, waves during a meeting to announce her new political party in Ankara, Turkey, October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Former interior minister Meral Aksener, who unsuccessfully opposed Erdogan’s drive for greater presidential powers in a referendum last April, said Turkey needed change after nearly 15 years of rule by his AK Party.

Her Iyi Parti (Good Party) is seen by many in Turkey as potentially one of the strongest challengers to Erdogan in presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019, but it starts out with only a fraction of the AK Party’s support.

Just five members of the 550-seat parliament have joined the new party, although pollsters say it could win over supporters of several parties including the conservative and Islamic-rooted AK Party as well as secular or nationalist groups.

“Turkey and its people are tired, the state is worn down, and public order is unraveling. There is no way other than the changing of the political atmosphere,” Aksener said at a ceremony in Ankara to mark the launch of her party.

“We are that way out, you are that way out. That road is the 80 million strong Turkish nation” she said, standing in front of the logo of her party - a yellow sun shining in a blue sky. “Our people are clearly saying they want ... a new government.”

Aksener was expelled last year from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the smallest of three opposition parties in parliament, after launching a failed bid to unseat party leader Devlet Bahceli, whose support helped Erdogan to a narrow victory in a referendum that expanded his authority.

Since her expulsion, the 61-year old Aksener has become one of the most prominent voices in the country, frequently criticizing Erdogan and the government.

“BIG CHANGES”

The Iyi Party could take more than a tenth of the AK Party support, which stands at over 40 percent, said Hakan Bayrakci of SONAR pollsters. It could also erode the support base of nationalist MHP and the secularist CHP parties, he said.

Meral Aksener, a former Turkish interior minister and deputy parliament speaker, is pictured during a meeting to announce her new political party in Ankara, Turkey, October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

“Meral Aksener’s party will lead to big changes in Turkey’s political atmosphere,” Bayrakci told Reuters. “This may not be immediate, but in three to five months, I believe this shift will be visible.”

Erdogan’s AK Party won just under 50 percent of votes in the last parliamentary election, in November 2015, and he has told supporters it is aiming for more than half the votes in 2019.

Mehmet Ali Kulat from polling company Mak Danismanlik, which is seen as close to the AK Party, said the Iyi Party currently had the support of around 5 percent of voters.

Meral Aksener, a former Turkish interior minister and deputy parliament speaker, is pictured during a meeting to announce her new political party in Ankara, Turkey, October 25, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

“It looks like Aksener’s party can get votes from angry voters,” Kulat said. “Their real strength will come out in the long term.”

Aksener said many members of her party wanted her to stand as its presidential candidate in the 2019 election, and criticized what she described as an erosion of rights in Turkey.

“Democracy is under threat and the government’s justice is above all else. It is evident that society is at a political standstill,” Aksener said.

Since a failed military coup last year, in which more than 240 people were killed, Turkish authorities have detained more than 50,000 people and suspended 150,000 people including teachers, soldiers, journalists and lawyers.

Aksener said her party aimed to raise the average length of education in Turkey from seven years to 11 years, and promised to bring Turkey into the world’s top 20 countries for education. It currently lies around 50th in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

In previous weeks, several members from the MHP and the secular main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have quit their parties to join Aksener, who has said her party’s doors were open to anyone “willing to walk with their cause”.

“We have hopes and dreams. We want a rich Turkey, we have power. We want a just Turkey and we have that power. We want a free Turkey and we have our rights,” she said.

Additional reporting and writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Dominic Evans and Robin Pomeroy

www.reuters.com