Turkish progressives, the CHP’s presidential candidate Muharram Ince put the EU reforms and democratisation at the heart of the campaign.

“Turkey’s EU perspective did not start with the AKP. It started with the foundation of the Republic, and even before that. It was a bipartisan policy created since the foundation of our republic, but unfortunately we lost this vision of European reforms under the AKP governments. Turkey’s EU accession will be our goal and we will accelerate the reform process with a progressive agenda” Ince said in a statement released following his nomination as the CHP candidate for presidency.

“We set off on a journey to democratize Turkey. We have priorities such as fighting against youth unemployment and reforming our education system which is already broken by this government’s regressive policies. I am committed to achieve these goals. We feel the spirit of change in the streets of our country today.” he added.

Principle of merit

Commenting on the downturn of the Turkish economy that the alarm bells ringing for a while, Ince said that he will not make his decisions with a partisan manner in assigning the economy adminstration team of he will be elected as the President.

“We will work with the people of world-class expertise and experience in every field to develop our country further and economy in particular.” Ince added.

Remarks on waste and mercenariness

In Friday’s statement Muharrem Ince underlined the importance of fighting against terrorism and anti-corruption policies for the economic development.

“I’ll follow the policies to cut unnecessary expenses and boost savings in government. We won’t save by cutting the salary of workers and civil servants who are already paying a high price due to the widespread political corruptions. An important aspect of the economic policy is actually psychological. A president who does not live in a luxury palace and does not travel with almost 300 armoured cars with special security guards will contribute to achieve this target” he added.