Erdoğan vows AKP will be 'on ground in full force'
ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 1 that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will hit the ground "in full force" following an upcoming consultation camp.
"Thank God, we are advancing on our path in harmony and coordination with our organization," Erdoğan said at an AKP event in Istanbul.
The party’s annual consultation camp will be held on July 11-13 in the capital Ankara's Kızılcahamam district, a traditional venue for internal party discussions.
Erdoğan said the meeting would serve as a launchpad for a renewed mobilization effort and the party will emerge "strengthened and energized."
"We are fighting shoulder to shoulder for a common cause and common troubles," Erdoğan told party members. "We will continue on our path with determination, without getting tired or weary, with the slogan of 'Türkiye first.' It is not befitting of this cadre to stop and be complacent.”
Erdoğan said the summer campaign is aimed at "widening the gap with the opposition."
“We will work hard, we will go door to door," he said. "Our women and youth branches will also take to the field and carry out important work. We will be on the field together in full force. We will strengthen our heart bond with our nation."
Praising the AKP’s grassroots machinery, Erdoğan said the party was built on solidarity, not self-interest.
"Our interests did not bring us together. We did not run for these positions for a seat or a position," he said.
"We are only here to serve the people and gain the consent of the people. We are in the AKP to serve our nation. We are together to be a bridge between hearts."
Erdoğan said the ruling party has never lost its drive to serve the nation.
"All 86 million are our brothers, a part of our soul," he said. "We exist for the nation and we will do whatever it wants. The AKP is the party of the nation. We have always been the companions of the poor, the destitute, the helpless, not the elites."
Highlighting the government’s performance, Erdoğan said the AKP-led administration had transformed the country across sectors, including transportation, education and defense.
"The opposition cannot hold a candle to us in the service race," he said. "There is a consciousness in the municipalities of the [ruling] People’s Alliance to keep the promises they made in the squares. In our municipalities, there is not complaining but producing solutions."