Joint Statement Of The Leaders Of The Six Political Parties (Ankara, 29-30 May 2022)

The fourth summit within the cooperation process that we started as six political parties to establish a liberal and democratic order based on human rights in our country was held on 29 May 2022.

On the occasion of this meeting, which we held on the 569th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, we commemorate Mehmed the Conqueror with gratitude and wish mercy on all our martyrs who sacrificed their lives for this land.

In this meeting, the work of the four committees that we decided to form to materialise our cooperation and our goal of transition to a "Strengthened Parliamentary System" were reviewed, and it was agreed that these efforts should be continued with determination.

We have created a position document entitled "Key Principles and Objectives" that will serve as a reference for our future joint work on the transition process and the country's administration. This reference text is also a joint commitment to our nation and the grassroots of our parties.

The "Election Security Committee" addressed the joint work to be carried out in four phases, namely, pre-election, election period, election day and post-election, and moved on to the planning stage of the steps to be taken. In this context, we would like to pledge to the public: As the six political parties, we will continue to work and cooperate as we have determined in our roadmap until the election results are announced and finalised by the Supreme Election Council (YSK). Rest assured: We will work day and night to ensure that not a single vote is wasted, and we will take every precaution to ensure that the elections are held in a fair, free, transparent, and secure manner. The progress of the committee's work on this issue will be shared with the public on 6 June 2022, Monday.

The "Institutional Reforms Committee", in addition to identifying the actual situation of public finances and liabilities for the future, has created the framework of principal and structural reforms to be undertaken to build a Strategic Planning Organization, strengthen the institutional structure of the Central Bank (TCMB) and ensure its independence as well as restructure the Economic and Social Council and make it functional. The committee will share the concrete proposals it has developed for the institutional reform steps to be taken with the public on 13 June 2022, Monday. In addition, it will detail the erosion in these institutions and how to improve them.

The "Constitutional and Legal Reforms Committee" looked into amendments to be enacted in articles 75 to 91 of the Constitution as part of the constitutional and legal reforms to be realised in the transition to a Strengthened Parliamentary System. The committee will continue to work with the same determination and complete its constitutional amendments preparations until the next meeting.

In addition to assessing the work performed by the committees, we also addressed current political and economic issues in the summit meeting.

One of the most fundamental elements of a robust economy, price stability, has unfortunately suffered a heavy toll due to the government's unrealistic, unscientific, and irrational economic arguments. Our country has risen to 6th place in the world inflation rankings, and the cost of living has reached a level that is liable to disrupt social stability. With the Currency Protected Deposit (KKM) System, resources entrusted to the public by 85 million citizens began to be transferred to the few wealthy people of our country in the form of an unfair transfer of wealth. The government should immediately end the KKM and normalise monetary policy.

The migrant issue, which has recently escalated, fuelled by provocative statements on the one hand and wrong practices on the other, has also been comprehensively addressed. We have agreed to establish a committee to deepen the consultations between our parties to develop a comprehensive "Migration Policy".

The enlargement of NATO, which came to the fore in the tense conjuncture of the Ukraine-Russia war, was also discussed from the perspective of multidimensional foreign policy required by our country's strategic interests. Turkey's rightful demands for a common stance and cooperation in counterterrorism are valid not only for Sweden and Finland, which have applied for NATO membership, but also for all current NATO members and, in fact, all UN members. While we should express our rightful requests regarding this matter, we also need to stay away from tensions and adventurous rhetoric that could tip the balance of power against us in the East Mediterranean and the Aegean and harm Turkey's multidimensional foreign policy.

The possible cross-border operation issue, which came to the agenda after the last National Security Council meeting, was also discussed in our meeting. It is our country's right, and the government's responsibility to take necessary measures in the fight against terrorism and border security. However, we are determined to stand in unison against the use of issues concerning national security as material for domestic politics in a way that will affect the upcoming election process under the pretext that an extraordinary process is taking place. Therefore, relevant state institutions are required to inform the opposition parties about the reasons, duration, scope, and objectives of a possible operation.

Finally, our joint message to our people, who are struggling for life in challenging conditions, is the following: As leaders who came together to put an end to the deepening problems and possess the willpower to do so, we will free our country from this bottleneck by overcoming the political engineering of the government, and we will lead our nation to the democratic and prosperous Turkey it deserves.