‘Our choice is West,' CHP presidential candidate İnce says
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) presidential candidate Muharrem İnce has vowed to repair Turkey's strained ties with the European Union, stressing their “choice is the West.”
“I have spoken to some ambassadors and told them they should not force us to change our choice [of the West]. Immediately after I am elected president, I will tour the European capitals,” İnce told a group of editors-in-chief and directors of newspapers and broadcasters in a meeting in Istanbul on June 20.
İnce announced that his “most urgent priority” is the justice system. “I do not care what the EU says, we will recognize cemevis as places of worship because it is the right of our Alevi citizens. Religious classes in schools will no longer be compulsory,” he said.
“The EU wants us to do certain things. But there are things we should do for our people whether the EU wants it or not. Do we have to hear that we should fix our justice system from the EU? These things should be fixed even without the EU and I believe I have earned the trust of the EU as well,” İnce added, after he was asked about his foreign policy.
“We will not return to the past. Our parliamentary system in the past was bad, but the new one is even worse. We will change this. Even newspaper headlines are decided by one man. We will change that too,” the CHP candidate promised.
İnce voiced confidence that he would be elected president after the June 24 elections, stressing he had never seen such energy during a campaign in his 30-year-long political career.
“I am addressing huge crowds. There is an extraordinary groundswell,” he said.