Emergency rule must be lifted to lure foreign investments: CHP candidate İnce
KIRIKKALE
Emergency rule must be lifted if Turkey is to attract foreign investors, main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) presidential candidate Muharrem İnce said at a rally held on May 30 in the central Anatolian province of Kırıkkale.
İnce also suggested that ending emergency rule would help the Turkish Lira gain value against the United States dollar and the euro.
“If you re-elect [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, the U.S. dollar/lira rate will hit 10 liras,” the CHP candidate claimed.
“Foreign countries do not trust Turkey, thus they do not invest in our country. When Turkey becomes a country of the rule law, foreign investors will invest thus the lira will gain value,” İnce told his supporters.
“We will increase women’s participation in the labor force to 50 percent. We will open daycare centers in every neighborhood, which will help women who want to work. Each family will become a homeowner,” İnce added.
The presidential candidate also vowed to increase the minimum wage to 2,200 liras ($493).
“They are asking where the resources will come from to finance all those projects. You spend $40 billion on 4 million Syrians [living in Turkey as refugees] and I will use the very same resources to make all those pledges possible,” he said.
Earlier this week, İnce criticized the megaprojects pushed by the president, saying their public-private financing model is indebting Turkey.
The CHP candidate had also criticized bridge projects for carrying hidden costs that are being passed onto taxpayers.
According to İnce, the government is granting guarantees to big companies from the Treasury for infrastructure investments, such as bridges and city hospitals.
Claims about Erdoğan’s Gülen visit
At the rally in Kırıkkale, İnce insisted on his claim that Erdoğan visited U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen before forming the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
İnce alleged on May 25 in a televised interview that he had visited Gülen in Pennsylvania and “asked permission” to form the ruling AKP.
Gülen is a former close ally of Erdoğan and the AKP but his network is now widely believed to have been behind the July 2016 coup attempt.
The president filed a criminal complaint against İnce over his allegations.
Erdoğan’s lawyer filed a lawsuit against the CHP’s candidate for “insulting the president,” demanding non-pecuniary damages worth 100,000 liras on May 29.
