BAGIS ATTENDS THE MANAMA DIALOGUE HELD IN BAHRAIN

AK Party Vice Chairman Egemen Bagis attended the 5th International Manama Dialogue meeting held in Bahrain.

Bagis said that in addition to the Muslim's first preference in Turkey, AK Party became the first preference of all the minority groups in Turkey including Armenians, Greek of Turkish Nationality, Jewish and Circassians.

Dr. Mamaoun Fandy, Gulf Security Expert of IIS, which is a Britain based "think tank" institution, chaired the Sectarian Politics Panel in which Bagis made a speech within the scope of the meeting. Former Defence Minister of Iraq Dr. Sadoun Al Dulame, the Member of Saudi Arabia International Trade Council Dr. Thuraya Arrayed and the BAE University Professor Ebtisam Al Kitibi have also made a speech in the panel.

Talking about the "success story" of AK Party in his speech, Egemen Bagis emphasized that labeling the AK Party as Islamist is an indication of groundless categorizations. AK Party is not Islamist, but is a centrist conservative democrat political party located at the center of the political spectrum. Bagis continued: "In addition to the Muslim's first preference in Turkey, AK Party became the first preference of all the minority groups in Turkey including Armenians, Greek of Turkish Nationality, Jewish and Circassians."

In his speech during the panel, Bagis stated that AK Party received 25 percentages of votes from the regions of East and Southeast in general elections on 3rd of November 2002 whereas their southeast votes were close to 60 percentages on 22 July 2007. Bagis showed this result as an indication of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's perception of the philosophy "love the created for the Creator's sake".

Giving instances of the service that AK Party government provided, Bagis highlighted that the EU negotiations are started, a Turkish citizen has elected for the first time as a Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the education became the first priority of the budget, the hospitals are unified and become available for all the citizens, 6 zeros are thrown from Turkish Lira, inflation and interest rates have been reduced, GDP has tripled and foreign capital inflows has increased twenty times more, Turkey become a co-chair of the Alliances of the Civilization Project and Turkey become a member of UN Security Council after 47 years. Having said that the success of Prime Minister Erdogan and AK Party derives from the basis of all their actions is compassion for humanity; Bagis stated that this perception is an important factor for the peace in the Middle East.