Erdogan: We’re going to organize at the ballot boxes

President Erdogan, whose campaign efforts continue, made the opening speech of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Provincial Chairs meeting, which he attended via video conference. Targeting the Nation Alliance with harsh words, Erdogan said, "The critical developments experienced has changed the grounds of the May 14 election.”

The highlights of Erdogan's speech are as follows:

WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH A COALITION STRUCTURE, NOT AN ALLIANCE: Of course, each election is difficult. Each election is vital, each election is important, but the process our country has gone through, the heavy losses caused by the recent earthquake disaster, the critical developments in our region and the world have changed the grounds of the May 14 election. We can easily understand see situation by looking at the structure and motivation of the scrappy alliance established before us. Although, we are no longer confronted by an alliance, but a coalition structure based entirely on in-fighting, trickery, and haggling, just like in the old Turkey.

THEY NOMINATED MISTER KEMAL EVEN AT THE COST OF TOPPLING THE TABLE: Even the 12-item declaration published by this coalition — which started out as six or eight, or ten parties or something — stands on its own as proof of where they want to drag our country to.

This coalition, which nominated Mister Kemal even at the cost of toppling the table, has no concern of the nation or of the country on its agenda. They have no single effort to sustain the growth and development Turkey has achieved in 20 years, on the contrary, they promise to demolish what has been done.

THEY FELL INTO A GAME OF THRONES REMINISCENT OF THE BYZANTINES: The determination to continue our struggle to crush terrorist organizations which threaten our borders and covet our unity and solidarity is not on the agenda of this coalition. So, what is on the agenda of this coalition? The agenda of these people is only political ambition, the distribution of offices and roles, calculations on how to plunder the country’s resources, intentions to disrupt our national unity and solidarity, and an effort to revive the old Turkey, which had heavy costs for our country and our people. The journey that the Table of Six coalition started to return to a strengthened parliamentary system leads first to the gambling table and then into a fight for the vice presidency and distribution of deputies in the parliament. Moreover, it is such a fight that there are all kinds of disgrace in it, from threats to bribery, from insults to blackmail, from brandishing weapons openly to lynching with mounted troops those who try to leave the herd. You will not find such intrigue in neither movies, nor television series or novels, but as a country, we have witnessed their fight for the throne, reminiscent of the Byzantines, for days and months, have read it line by line, listened sentence by sentence.

WE CANNOT ALLOW A SUCH A CATASTROPHE: Turkey, Turkish democracy, and our nation do not deserve such a desperate picture. As a requirement of our responsibility towards our nation, we cannot leave our country at the mercy of this coalition, which is internally complicated, that has a dark past, a deformed shape, a lack of direction, and a greed beyond its reach. We cannot allow such a catastrophe as we move towards uplifting the Turkey Century by leaving behind the losses and gains of the first century of our Republic. We cannot let the hopes we share with our women and our youth, and the vision we have developed together, slip out of our hands because of a handful of avaricious people.

IF WE DON'T WORK HARDER IN THIS ELECTION, WE WILL BE CRUSHED BY THE BURDEN OF THE GREAT CATASTROPHE: We will work harder now than we have in any election. For this, we will reach more people than we have reached in any election. For this, we will win more hearts than we have won in any election. If we do not, we will be crushed under the guilty conscience due to the great catastrophe that will befall this country and this nation.

WE WILL NOT ALLOW TRICKERY AT THE BALLOT BOX: After the decision to hold the elections, which we signed yesterday and published in the Official Gazette, the Supreme Election Council started to create the election calendar. Of course, campaign work is done at home, on the street, and in life. But do not forget that in the end, the election is won at the ballot box. For this, we will establish a strong organization that will protect the ballot boxes, and will not allow the slightest trickery, cheating, deceit, or deception. As it stands today, we already have a preparation that extends from our headquarters to our neighborhood representatives and to our ballot box workers. We will strengthen this preparation until election day, and we will quickly correct any deficiencies. God willing, we will continue our meetings in the coming days and together we will prepare for May 14th. God willing, your signatures will be under the AK Party's 16th election victory.