AK Party deputy chairman: Party fully behind founding leader Erdoğan

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is fully behind its founding leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and it will continue to work for the goals it set for 2023, AK Party Deputy Chairman Mehdi Eker told the Sabah daily. "The AK Party is a party of cause. The AK Party Central Executive Committee [MKYK] is Tayyip Erdoğan's friend and behind the vision that he put forward," Eker said, adding that there is a need for a new constitution to achieve prosperity and peace in the future.

Asserting that the AK Party does not get tangled up in changes within the party, Eker said the current system in Turkey cannot solve problems permanently. Speaking about Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's recent resignation and decision to take the party to an extraordinary congress, Eker said the AK Party's practices would continue to be implemented: "The mechanism of consultation will function in a healthy way as always. Programs and reforms that the government had put forward will continue." Dismissing claims that a presidential system in Turkey would put obstacles in the way of democracy, Eker said it would rather make it easier to rule the country. "The current system makes it difficult to make decisions. President Erdoğan is the founding leader of the AK Party. His vision is a common ground for all of us," he said.

The AK Party will hold an extraordinary congress on May 22 at which Davutoğlu is not planning to run for the leadership. Holding a press conference on Thursday to talk about his decision, Davutoğlu said: "I think that it is right to step down for the continuity of the AK Party's unity and solidarity."

"The AK Party is entering a new era," he said, adding that the public's questions of why he is leaving his post despite getting 49.5 percent of the vote while opposition parties had repeatedly failed need to be asked. Davutoğlu said: "I have principles that I have never abandoned since my academic career. I have never requested or lobbied for any position throughout my career. I have never been in a relationship based on a position, title or vision. I have always wanted to be assured that the companions I am on the road with are on the same side as me."