Erdogan blasts opposition "smear campign" for next month's local elections

Speaking at his Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) parliamentary group meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan charged that opposition parties were using smears to campaign for next month's local elections, saying that instead they should explain how they will serve the people. "If you believe that AK Party mayors have engaged in illegal activities, you should use the legal system, not smear campaigns," he said. "But you know that your claims are inconsistent. The people are aware of everything." No smear campaign will sway the AK Party from serving the people, he added. He further predicted that the party would better its 2007 local elections showing of 47 percent of the vote. Rejecting claims that the government is using social aid programs to win votes, Erdogan said such programs are always offered, not only at election time. Erdogan also criticized recent moves by the traditionally pro-secular main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) such as wooing women with chadors as members and pledging to establish Koran courses, suggesting these were hypocritical after the CHP gave support last year to a closure case against the AK Party over its efforts to lift the university headscarf ban. Erdogan also addressed thousands of supporters at a rally in the central Anatolian province of Kirsehir, the second of 60 planned rallies across Turkey.