Istanbul--Brushing off complaints he is brazenly violating the constitution, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is playing an increasingly active role in Turkey's legislative election campaign as the ruling party faces its biggest ballot box challenge since it came to power.
Latest opinion polls suggest that the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) could see its vote tumble in the June 7 election from the last polls in 2011 and even lose its parliamentary majority, sparking unusual expressions of alarm in pro-government media.
Erdogan, who became president in 2014 after more than a decade as premier, is supposed to be apolitical as head of state but in recent days has been campaigning with relentless vigour.
The face of prime minister and AKP leader Ahmet Davutoglu -- a former foreign minister who lacks Erdogan's populist charisma -- stares out from election posters but it is Erdogan who has taken hold of the campaign, while insisting he is merely "on the side of the people".
Erdogan on Tuesday alone gave a morning speech in Istanbul, opened alongside Davutoglu a new airport in Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province with a speech several times longer than that of the premier, before speaking to an evening rally in Ankara.
On Saturday, the president will also speak at a major rally in Istanbul with Davutoglu to celebrate the anniversary of the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Istanbul.
Such is the controversy over Erdogan's behaviour that former president Abdullah Gul -- a co-founder of the AKP -- has declined an invitation to attend the Istanbul rally at the weekend, the Radikal online daily reported.
AFP
