MARDIN, Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his ruling Justice and Development Party will not be resentful toward the country’s other political parties because of election discourse, but will be open to discuss any issue after the June 7 general election.
“I openly state that when we win, we will sit and talk over with them the very next day of the elections no matter what they said about us [during the election campaign],” he told state broadcaster TRT on Wednesday night.
Davutoglu’s remarks came as political parties accelerated their campaigning efforts, with only 10 days to go before Turkey’s parliamentary elections.
“But we will talk with them over the new constitution and freedoms,” said the premier.
The 2015 parliamentary elections are of key importance to the AK Party government as drafting a new civilian constitution would be the first item on the Turkish parliament's agenda in case of an election victory.
Davutoglu has promised to replace the current constitution, which was written after the 1980 military coup.
Turkey held general election every five years until a 2007 constitutional change, which set the elections to every four years.
Approximately 56 million Turkish citizens are eligible to vote next month in the country's 25th general election to choose 550 lawmakers for parliament. Candidates are representing 20 political parties.
Asked about claims that employing Syrians would increase Turkey’s unemployment rate, Davutoglu ruled out any case where a Turkish person has become unemployed because of Syrian refugees.
He lashed out at remarks by Kemal Kilicdaroglu -- leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) -- about Syrian refugees taking shelter in Turkey where he said he would send them back to Syria if CHP wins, claiming that “Syrians are stripping Turkish people of their jobs.”
The premier compared his remarks against refugees to that of Germany's Islamophobic and xenophobic far-right group PEGIDA, which pioneers a racist stance against immigrants and Muslims in Europe.
“You know what it is. Take this stance and replace Syrians with Turks just like the PEGIDA discourse in Germany. ‘These Turks are taking your livelihood away. We will send them back. Actually these Muslims should not be here,’” he said, calling it a “racist discourse.”
Davutoglu also said officials are already taking precautions to prevent scenes of Syrians begging on the streets of Turkey’s metropolitan cities.
“But, is the solution to leave those children to the mercy of the Syrian regime, bombs or Daesh? That’s nothing but a provocation,” he added.
The Syria crisis has created the worst global refugee crisis in decades, putting pressure on Western countries to open their borders and help refugees.
The UN High Commission for Refugees has registered 2.2 million refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, while Turkey alone has registered 1.7 million Syrians.
Turkey has spent $5.6 billion in support of Syrian refugees to date, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month.
