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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is striving to reshape and renew the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a bid to prepare for three crucial elections in 2019.
"The renovation in our party is a demand from our people. Confrontation with the people is not acceptable," Erdogan said in an AKP meeting in the western province of Afyonkarahisar on Saturday.
"If we don't make necessary changes, the people will do it at the ballot boxes, and it will be more painful then," he added.
AKP leaders and representatives gathered during the 26th semi-annual "consultation and assessment camp," which the main topic was the "renovation" efforts within the party, services in mayoralties and the six-month action plan of the ministers.
"What are people saying to us? Change and renovate. The people want reforms from us. They expect bigger aims and bigger projects," Erdogan stressed.
Renewing the party doesn't mean a purge but those who are tired will have to go, he added.
During his speech at the 3-days camp, Erdogan called on more changes and renovation in AKP and presented his vision and agenda for 2019, when the local, legislative and presidential elections will be held, a most crucial year for the future of the ruling party.
"2019 will be an important year and we have already begun preparations. We will naturally discuss of coming challenges. AKP is a democratic party where everyone can express freely its opinions," a former parliament member told Xinhua.
Early this month, Istanbul's mayor Kadir Topbas resigned suddenly without giving any reasons, sparking speculation that some key majors considered not up to the job could be on the line.
Istanbul is the biggest metropolis and the economic and cultural heart in Turkey with some 15 million inhabitants. Topbas held his post for 13 years. He was replaced by another AKP member in the city council, Mevlut Uysal.
Local media reported that the resignation of at least six mayors of big cities would be possible, including Ankara mayor Melih Gokcek, who holds his post for an unprecedented 23 years, since 1994.
According to Abdulkadir Selvi, columnist of Hurriyet Daily, AKP wants changes in big cities mayors who were not successful during the constitutional referendum of last April.
"There is a very important reshaping process inside the AKP, but this is also a difficult one because there are prominent names involved. Some cities like Istanbul and Ankara have dragged the AKP down during the referendum, and Erdogan doesn't want it repeat in 2019 election," he wrote.
Most of Turkey's 1,400 cities and townships are currently under AKP rule.
After returning to the helm of the party that he co-founded, Erdogan launched a plan for the renewal of the AKP, out of concern that constitutional changes were only narrowly passed and the fact that there was an unprecedented drop in votes in almost all big constituencies.
He first reshuffled the government, then made substantial changes in regional organizations. But the third phase "seems to be more painful, as it concerns prominent mayors," wrote Serkan Demirtas in his column in Hurriyet Daily News.
"Erdogan is aware of the widespread electoral discontent with AKP mayors' poor performance, especially in metropolises like Istanbul and Ankara," said Aykan Erdemir, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
