President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dubbed the upcoming June 24 elections a “new era” for Turkey while addressing thousands of citizens gathered outside the location of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s provincial congress in Istanbul on Sunday.
“We will actualize the beginning of a new era for Turkey together on June 24. Our country doesn’t have even a single moment to lose with the old system,” Erdoğan said.
"We will give those who want to divide us the greatest slap on June 24. We will call it the Ottoman slap," he added.
Last month, parliament passed a bill calling for early elections on June 24, cementing Turkey’s move to a presidential system.
Erdoğan promised to lower interest rates and inflation following snap presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.
“We will explain our manifesto soon, I hope that this manifesto will reveal the future of the presidential system[…],” Erdoğan said.
“After that, we will explain in Ankara what we have done and what we will do in our election declaration,” he added.
On April 16, 2017, Turkey held a referendum during which the majority of voters pronounced themselves in favor of an 18-article bill switching a parliamentary system into a presidential one. Under the changes, the number of lawmakers in parliament rises to 600 from 550, presidential and parliamentary elections are held every five years, and presidents can retain ties to their political party. The prime minister post is also abolished.
Erdoğan has served as president since 2014, when he became Turkey's first popularly elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister, from 2003 to 2014. Should he win the June election, Erdoğan would be Turkey's first leader under the presidential system, doing away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.
The president also said at least 4,415 terrorists have been “neutralized" since the launch of Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists from Afrin, northwestern Syria.
According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.
The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey's rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.
