ANKARA
The ruling Justice and Development, or AK Party has never implemented an election-oriented economic policy, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday.
"Resorting to an economic policy only directed towards elections is the danger or trap that a ruling party will face ahead of elections," Davutoglu told Wednesday a meeting of the "8th Trade and Industry Council of Turkey," organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in the capital Ankara.
His remarks came a day after Turkish political parties announced their candidates’ lists for the upcoming June 7 parliamentary elections.
The premier said that all AK Party governments in the last 12 years came through three general elections, three local elections and two referenda.
"The history and records are our witnesses that we have never formulated an election policy ahead of elections," he said.
The ruling party has set ambitious macroeconomic goals for the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey in 2023 and aims to make Turkey one of the world's 10 biggest economies by then.
Among the targets of its 2023 vision, announced in 2011 by then premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the government aims to decrease unemployment to 5 percent and reach a $2 trillion Gross National Product, which corresponds to around $20,000 dollar per capita income.
Davutoglu said that when he took over as prime minister in August last year, he warned his colleagues not to write an electoral period program that spans only from September 2014 to June 2015 while they drafted the government program.
"We consult with all to make the best decisions for (Turkey’s) long-term and permanent stability," he added.
As for the key to Turkey's survival in the global economic crisis, Davutoglu highlighted political stability, trust, political vision as well as solid ties between politics and Turkish economy.
He also emphasized that the ruling party would never take an economic decision that would end up burdening the next generations of Turkey.
"We will never cause fiscal deficits or social security deficits for leaders who take over the government from us," he said.
"Our cause is not a fad for power, but a claim of reconstructing Turkey," he added.
The AK Party was victorious in last year’s March local elections and its then leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the presidential election in August 2014.
In the previous general elections held back in 2011, AK Party received almost 50 percent of the votes.
Approximately 56 million Turkish citizens will vote on June 7 in the country's 25th general elections to elect the 550 lawmakers of the Turkish Parliament.
Turkey had held general elections every five years until a 2007 constitutional change which set elections to every four years.
