Turkish PM says to quit if second in June votes

Turkey's prime minister said on Sunday that he would resign from leadership of his Justice & Development (AK) Party if his party came the second in the upcoming general elections.

Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would hold general elections 112 days later, i.e. on June 12.

"Turkish nation will make their decision with their own free will 112 days later," Erdogan said during an inauguration ceremony in Istanbul.

Erdogan said he would quit as AK Party chairman and join Turkish nation if AK Party came the second party in the June 12th elections.

"Erdogan hits opposition"

Turkey's prime minister said that opposition parties had "already lost the upcoming general elections."

Erdogan said opposition parties did not have any target or project, and therefore they had already lost the general elections due in June.

"They (opposition parties) have already accepted defeat, and they are in an effort to find a reason for their defeat," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said investments in Turkey totalled only 59 billion Turkish liras-TL (37.5 billion USD) in 2002 when his Justice & Development (AK) Party came to power.

The prime minister said 43 billion TL (27.3 billion UBD) of it was private sector investments and the rest 16 billion TL (10.1 billion USD) was public investments.

Erdogan said total investments in Turkey were up by three-folds at the end of 2009 and reached 161 billion TL (102.5 billion USD) despite the global economic crisis.

"Stability and confidence grows Turkey and revives economy, and our democratization steps, reforms on the road to the European Union (EU), and our active foreign policy are making Turkey a global actor and turns the country into a center of attraction," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said the national income was 230 billion USD eight years ago, however it was up by three-folds and reached 730 billion USD in eight years.

Turkey's exports reached 114 billion USD from 36 billion USD in eight years, Erdogan said.

Erdogan also said inflation declined to 6.4 percent from 30 percent during AK Party government, and Turkey's debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt reduced to 5.5 billion USD from 23.5 billion.


/World Bulletin/