AK PARTY BİTLİS LOCAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN RALLY

Egemen Bağış accompanied Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who made a speech in Bitlis as part of the AK Party election campaign.

The prime minister emphasized the significance of the municipal elections. He commented on the unification of five parties against the AK Party in the upcoming municipal elections and criticized them for not equaling a single competent party.

Mr Erdoğan said people will be voting for "performance" rather than "words." He noted that the Kurdish names of villages are being returned because of initiatives of the government based on instructions given to the Ministry of the Interior. Returning Kurdish names of villages was a crucial step taken by the AK Party government as part of the democratization package in efforts to eliminate despotic measures implemented by the May 27 and Sept. 12 coups.