Former AKP MP calls on Erdoğan to leave presidency ‘at the peak’

Duvar English

Metin Külünk, a former deputy from the Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has called on President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to leave the presidency “at the peak.”

During a video interview with 12punto, Külünk argued that Erdoğan’s popularity had been declining following the local election defeat.

In the March 31st local election held in 2024, the AKP could not become a leading party for the first time in an election since its foundation in 2001, following the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Külünk said Erdoğan previously was “the brother who stood by the laborers, workers, shopkeepers, low-income people, farmers, and peasants at every moment. He was 'Our Erdoğan', 'Our Tayyip'. This was the most powerful strategic point.”

He further said that “the fortunes of the wealthy have multiplied” during the AKP era. “The narrow elite circles that have become rich thanks to the AKP are no different from other pre-AKP rich people.”

“The people have gone beyond the phrase ‘Our President is very good but his surroundings are very bad.’ I am sorry to say that they are directly questioning Mr. President himself. The trust in Mr. President of 3-4 years ago is going down steeply,” Külünk said.

Külünk further argued, “Our nation said in the local election, 'We are tired of the unregulated model in local governments. We are fed up with the psychology of religion and hiding behind (Erdoğan’s) name. In politics, we are tired of organizations hiding behind your name, transforming politics from being done for the people into a relationship of interest by building feudalism at the local level, and producing despotism through (Erdoğan)’.”

If the problems in the economy and politics are not resolved, the early election would be discussed in 2025, he said.

He called on Erdoğan “to leave (the presidency) with a good memory. You know how everything is best handed over at its peak? That's what I'm striving for.”

64-year-old Külünk was an AKP deputy between 2011 and 2018 for three terms.