Erdogan stumps for AK Party Ankara mayor

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a family wellness center in Ankara's Pursaklar district yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touted Greater Municipality Mayor Melik Gokcek, of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), who is seeking another term in local elections set for late this month. Dismissing main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) criticisms of the municipality's program of building underpasses and flyovers at many intersections to alleviate traffic woes, Erdogan said that modern city planning requires such measures, as can be seen in great metropolises such as London, New York and Tokyo. "Only through such measures can we solve traffic problems," he said. "The greater municipality constructed a great many flyovers in Ankara over the last 15 years, which have greatly helped to alleviate the traffic jams which previously plagued Ankara." Pointing to municipality efforts to improve public transportation, including extending the subway network, Erdogan said that all those efforts had made traveling in Ankara easier. Erdogan also spoke about the road between Esenboga Airport and the Ankara beltway. "If you love this city you can achieve anything," he said, in an apparent reference to the fast repair and construction of that road by the municipality. Erdogan criticized the CHP for what he called a negative, biased, and unfair attitude towards the services provided by the municipality. He also pledged to permanently solve Ankara's water shortage problems caused by drought in recent years. Erdogan also said that Ankara was rapidly becoming a world-class city, citing its 2003 Plaque of Honor from the Council of Europe. Also speaking at the meeting, Gokcek accused some media outlets of spreading smears about him in cooperation with the CHP, adding that the CHP should instead talk about its vision for Ankara. He also said that he would continue to serve Ankara with new projects.