Turkey: Erdogan to AKP congress, my objective is 2023
Egyptian President Morsi guest of honor, Sunni power alliance
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to lead the Republic of Turkey all the way to its 100th anniversary, in 2023, at a boisterous party rally on Sunday attended by 40,000 supporters.
''A great nation, a great power, objective 2023'' was the slogan at the fourth congress of his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which re-elected him chairman for the third and last time. Erdogan, 58, detailed his party's achievements after nearly a decade in power, while also laying out a road map for what his role could be in the future. Today Turkey is the 17th world economic power, per-capita income has tripled since his 2002 election, the government has invested trillions in ambitious, country-wide development plans, and the armed forces have been brought to heel.
Several hundred officers and generals are in jail on sedition charges, but so are thousands of Kurdish separatists and dozens of journalists. While they worry Europe, these illiberal tendencies appear to leave Erdogan's electorate undisturbed, with the AKP light years ahead of the main social-democratic opposition party, the CHP, with its 25% share of votes. With a 50% approval rating, Erdogan, 58, will likely be confirmed for another five years in the next 2014 elections. He has a good chance of delivering on his campaign promise of bringing the country into the top 10 world economic powers by 2023, pending constitutional reform allowing his mandate to continue.
This in spite of apparent policy fiascoes in Syria, where his support of the rebels in hopes of a rapid victory over Assad has proven over-optimistic, and in Turkish Kurdistan, where the secessionist bloodbath continues unabated since July. And while the press, the opposition, and off-the-record AKP sources grumble about his authoritarianism and his creeping ''Islamization'' of Turkish society, Erdogan has not lost an election since 2001. Turkey's ruler now sees eye-to-eye with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who is from the Muslim Brotherhood and who was guest of honor at yesterday's congress. Turkey has promised Egypt, the other traditional Sunni-led regional power, 2 billion dollars in aid, and the two Islamic leaderships are cooperating on the Syria question. A Sunni axis could well balance out the Shiite Iraq-Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance. ''We will remain at the side of the Syrian people until this cruel regime has left the country for good,'' Morsi told the AKP congress.
''A great nation, a great power, objective 2023'' was the slogan at the fourth congress of his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which re-elected him chairman for the third and last time. Erdogan, 58, detailed his party's achievements after nearly a decade in power, while also laying out a road map for what his role could be in the future. Today Turkey is the 17th world economic power, per-capita income has tripled since his 2002 election, the government has invested trillions in ambitious, country-wide development plans, and the armed forces have been brought to heel.
Several hundred officers and generals are in jail on sedition charges, but so are thousands of Kurdish separatists and dozens of journalists. While they worry Europe, these illiberal tendencies appear to leave Erdogan's electorate undisturbed, with the AKP light years ahead of the main social-democratic opposition party, the CHP, with its 25% share of votes. With a 50% approval rating, Erdogan, 58, will likely be confirmed for another five years in the next 2014 elections. He has a good chance of delivering on his campaign promise of bringing the country into the top 10 world economic powers by 2023, pending constitutional reform allowing his mandate to continue.
This in spite of apparent policy fiascoes in Syria, where his support of the rebels in hopes of a rapid victory over Assad has proven over-optimistic, and in Turkish Kurdistan, where the secessionist bloodbath continues unabated since July. And while the press, the opposition, and off-the-record AKP sources grumble about his authoritarianism and his creeping ''Islamization'' of Turkish society, Erdogan has not lost an election since 2001. Turkey's ruler now sees eye-to-eye with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who is from the Muslim Brotherhood and who was guest of honor at yesterday's congress. Turkey has promised Egypt, the other traditional Sunni-led regional power, 2 billion dollars in aid, and the two Islamic leaderships are cooperating on the Syria question. A Sunni axis could well balance out the Shiite Iraq-Iran-Syria-Hezbollah alliance. ''We will remain at the side of the Syrian people until this cruel regime has left the country for good,'' Morsi told the AKP congress.
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