Türkiye’s hazelnut hub Giresun was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s next stopover in the campaign trail on Thursday. Addressing a fervent crowd with 10 days remaining for the critical presidential elections, Erdoğan said it was his administration again that can beat the high cost of living in Türkiye.
The remarks of the president, who will compete against three candidates on May 14, come amid a remarkable drop in inflation. Erdoğan pointed out that the inflation dropped to 43.7% in April and it would continue decreasing. “We will overcome high costs in marketplaces, we will compensate for the loss of welfare,” Erdoğan assured members of the public. He noted that they would raise salaries in July in consideration of the inflation rate and other factors, to improve the lives of millions.
The president highlighted past economic accomplishments. “You see how far we’ve gone. We have $115 billion in central bank reserves and it will increase more,” he said. “The list of what we have done cannot be summed up here and we will accomplish in the near future what we have been unable to do in the past,” he said. The president pointed out that it was the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that raised standards in every field, from education to health in Türkiye in the past decades.
As he screened a video of accomplishments, Erdoğan said they would “teach a lesson” to the opposition on May 14.
The president also called upon supporters of a nationalist party and a conservative party that joined the opposition bloc backing Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as a presidential candidate. “How long are you going to tolerate Mr. Kemal crushing all the values you stood for and defended?” he said. “We see how they exploit the legacy of Gazi Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), how (Kılıçdaroğlu) trumps (the idea) of independence (of Atatürk),” he said, in a veiled reference to the support for Kılıçdaroğlu from terrorist groups.
“I believe you, the people of Giresun, will not allow supporters of Qandil to take over,” he said, referring to the stronghold of the terrorist group PKK in Northern Iraq. “I know that you won’t sacrifice your leader for some onions and potatoes,” he said, referring to the opposition’s argument that the Erdoğan administration is responsible for a rise in prices of the said vegetables as Kılıçdaroğlu seeks to tap into economic hardships felt in some segments of the society.
After Giresun, Erdoğan traveled to Ordu, another Black Sea province for another rally and was scheduled to attend another rally in nearby Samsun province later on Thursday. On Sunday, the president is expected to gather a large crowd in Istanbul, like his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, for a big rally. Two top candidates will address supporters in what they hope to be their largest rallies before the elections.
