President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's leading Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has kicked off its election campaign on Thursday with a clear message to the nation, "If anyone can do the job, it's the AK Party."
The party is addressing the nation with a long list of achievements in the past 16 years and as President Erdoğan unveils the party's elections manifesto, he says that in a changing world and with the new presidential system of government in Turkey, the AK Party is the only party that can overcome this huge challenge.
President Erdoğan has a massive advantage in the elections against all his rivals as he is the leader who has been tested and has delivered.
The presidential system of government is his master project, which he has designed and can thus put into practice.
It is clear that President Erdoğan has realized that Turkey now has to base its economic growth on production and exports, thus the AK Party manifesto seeks to build factories, undertake high-tech projects and in turn, build a massive defense industry. This is a goal that only the AK Party can achieve as it has already created the infrastructure to fulfill such goals.
Turkey has spent $300 billion to build massive construction projects, including housing, in the past 16 years but now what is needed is production that can strengthen the economy.
A strong economy means Turkey can withstand the current assaults against its currency. It is clear that the current pressure on the Turkish lira is an offensive by some Western sources looking create economic difficulties for President Erdoğan and the AK Party to dampen its election prospects.
Turkey has a strong financial system that can withstand such pressures but the fact that its economy is so reliant on foreign investments creates complications.
Rightfully President Erdoğan is moving to shore up the economy and create a stronger infrastructure of production to prevent any such attacks in the future.
But that is not all. President Erdoğan has seen that while the AK Party has changed the face of Turkey during its rule in the past 16 years it now has to undertake projects to improve the quality of life for its citizens. Accordingly, he has taken a "Green" approach, promising to build giant parks across the country.
If you read the election manifestos of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and all the other rival parties, you see that there are a lot of promises but no one really believes that these parties can actually deliver.
That is one of the strongest points of Erdoğan and the AK Party.
President Erdoğan is starting his campaign from a strong position and it is clear that in the next month he will be boosting his popularity. Thus his election as president in the first round of balloting on June 24 will become a foregone conclusion.