Six opposition parties, who teamed up to re-establish the parliamentary system of government in Turkey, have issued a joint declaration outlining 10 common principles and goals.
The document will be a reference source for the transition period and future joint efforts on country management, the leaders of the six parties said in a statement on Monday.
“As parties with different political traditions, we cooperated and collaborated to make our country a more peaceful, happier, prosperous, freer and democratic place, as we are stepping into the second century of our Republic. We will continue this cooperation until we achieve our goals with the support of our nation,” the leaders of the opposition parties said in a statement published on the main opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) website.
The six political parties, including the CHP, have built an alliance on a shared set of principles focused on abolishing a presidential system of government in Turkey that granted vast executive powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2018. The parties began the talks last year after opinion polls showed that Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) were suffering a decline in public support ahead of elections slated for June 2023.
The parties said they will continue to work and cooperate until the election results are finalised and announced by the country’s top electoral body, the Supreme Election Council (YSK).
“We will work day and night to ensure that not a single vote is wasted, and we will take every precaution to ensure that the elections were held in a fair, free, transparent and secure manner,” they said.
The parties, including the nationalist Good Party (İP), the Islamist Felicity Party (SP), the Democrat Party (DP), former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s Future Party (GP) and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan’s Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) are also working on putting forward a joint candidate to run against Erdoğan at the elections.
The common principles and goals of the six political bodies have been listed as: “Strengthened Parliamentary system based on separation of powers,” “Libertarian public order,” “Pluralist, participatory and libertarian democracy that will end all kinds of discrimination,” “Freedom of thought, expression and press,” “Freedom of religion and conscience,” “Social peace and accountability before impartial/independent judiciary,” “Production and employment oriented economy,” “Political ethics reform,” and “Effective and reputable foreign policy.”
