AFP, Ankara :
Turkey’s ruling party secured a stunning victory in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, sweeping back into single-party rule only five months after losing it.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared victory as results reported by state-run TRT television showed that the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP, had won more than 49 percent of the vote and was projected to get 316 seats in parliament. The preliminary result, reported after about 99 percent of the votes were counted, would give the party a comfortable majority in the 550-seat parliament.
Following the vote, Davutoglu struck a conciliatory tone, asking ruling party supporters to remain solemn and to embrace fellow Turks.
“Today is the day of victory but it is also a day for humility,” Davutoglu said, addressing supporters in his hometown of Konya, where he voted.
He kept up the placatory manner during a victory address to thousands of AKP supporters gathered outside party headquarters in Ankara, promising to end the party’s often divisive rhetoric and asking for the “blessing” of anyone offended by the harsh election campaign.
Speaking from the balcony of AKP headquarters, Davutoglu also pledged to uphold freedoms and called for opposition parties’ support for constitutional amendments to make Turkey’s laws more democratic. It was not clear if the party had abandoned contentious plans to change Turkey’s political system to one that would give the president more powers.
Davutoglu spoke vaguely about pressing ahead with a peace process with the Kurds, but said Turkey was determined to continue to fight Kurdish rebels, who are considered terrorists.
“We won’t step back from our determination for a solution or from our determination to fight terrorism,” Davutoglu said.
The vote was a rerun of a June election in which AKP surprisingly lost its one-party rule due to a strong showing by a Kurdish party. Most analysts had expected AKP to fall short again, but the preliminary results suggest it picked up millions of votes at the expense of the nationalist MHP and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP. AKP’s vote tally jumped nearly nine percentage points. The secularist CHP was hovering around the same result as in June. HDP’s co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas said the party was forced to cancel election rallies and television stations gave party representatives little air-time amid government attacks branding the party as the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies.
“I regret to say that there wasn’t a fair or equal election… We were not able to lead an election campaign, we tried to protect our people against attacks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Turkey’s political parties to come together and agree a new constitution after his ruling AK Party regained its parliamentary majority at a general election on Sunday.
“I’m calling on all parties entering parliament to form a new civilian national constitution,” he said in a balcony speech to thousands of AKP supporters at the party headquarters in Ankara, as fireworks lit the sky.
“Let’s work together towards a Turkey where conflict, tension and polarization are non-existent and everyone salutes each other in peace.”
Turkey’s ruling party secured a stunning victory in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, sweeping back into single-party rule only five months after losing it.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared victory as results reported by state-run TRT television showed that the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP, had won more than 49 percent of the vote and was projected to get 316 seats in parliament. The preliminary result, reported after about 99 percent of the votes were counted, would give the party a comfortable majority in the 550-seat parliament.
Following the vote, Davutoglu struck a conciliatory tone, asking ruling party supporters to remain solemn and to embrace fellow Turks.
“Today is the day of victory but it is also a day for humility,” Davutoglu said, addressing supporters in his hometown of Konya, where he voted.
He kept up the placatory manner during a victory address to thousands of AKP supporters gathered outside party headquarters in Ankara, promising to end the party’s often divisive rhetoric and asking for the “blessing” of anyone offended by the harsh election campaign.
Speaking from the balcony of AKP headquarters, Davutoglu also pledged to uphold freedoms and called for opposition parties’ support for constitutional amendments to make Turkey’s laws more democratic. It was not clear if the party had abandoned contentious plans to change Turkey’s political system to one that would give the president more powers.
Davutoglu spoke vaguely about pressing ahead with a peace process with the Kurds, but said Turkey was determined to continue to fight Kurdish rebels, who are considered terrorists.
“We won’t step back from our determination for a solution or from our determination to fight terrorism,” Davutoglu said.
The vote was a rerun of a June election in which AKP surprisingly lost its one-party rule due to a strong showing by a Kurdish party. Most analysts had expected AKP to fall short again, but the preliminary results suggest it picked up millions of votes at the expense of the nationalist MHP and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP. AKP’s vote tally jumped nearly nine percentage points. The secularist CHP was hovering around the same result as in June. HDP’s co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas said the party was forced to cancel election rallies and television stations gave party representatives little air-time amid government attacks branding the party as the political wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies.
“I regret to say that there wasn’t a fair or equal election… We were not able to lead an election campaign, we tried to protect our people against attacks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Turkey’s political parties to come together and agree a new constitution after his ruling AK Party regained its parliamentary majority at a general election on Sunday.
“I’m calling on all parties entering parliament to form a new civilian national constitution,” he said in a balcony speech to thousands of AKP supporters at the party headquarters in Ankara, as fireworks lit the sky.
“Let’s work together towards a Turkey where conflict, tension and polarization are non-existent and everyone salutes each other in peace.”
