AK Party to convene to draw road map


The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will be discussing its policies and laying out its roadmap for the next four years in a strategy session led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in the province of Afyonkarahisar between Dec. 9 and Dec. 11. High participation from party organizations, including newly elected deputies, is expected.

After the party's sweeping victory in the Nov. 1 elections with 49.5 percent of the vote, Davutoğlu will now tell party members what needs to be done in the following years, including drafting a new constitution, increasing economic development, finding a solution to the Syrian crisis and fulfilling election pledges.

Drafting a new constitution and switching to a presidential system will likely headline the camp's agenda. A sense of urgency to draft a new constitution has been expressed by several politicians from all the major parties, with support even coming from some in the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who said that a presidential system based on the U.S. or Mexican models can be discussed.

Adil Gür, chairman of the Istanbul-based A&G Research Company, which gave the closest prediction of the vote share prior to the elections, claimed that as long as the will of the people was considered, they would agree to switch to the presidential system, referring to the 2010 Constitutional Referendum and 2014 presidential elections. Speaking in an interview with Sabah on Monday, he said: "If the government is successful in the fight against terrorism, removes the paranoias of separation and explains to people what kind of [presidential] system will come in place, then the voters will ‘yes' to the presidential system."

Davutoğlu is expected to visit several provinces where his party received the most votes, including Rize, Konya, Bayburt and Kahramanmaraş, to convey his thanks to the people there.