AK Party nominates Erdogan for 2nd term as president

By Coskun Ergul

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party officially nominated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a second term on Thursday.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the party's choice of Erdogan -- also the AK Party chairman -- at a parliamentary group meeting.

"Our candidate is the man of our nation. With the alliance, we announce Recep Tayyip Erdogan as our presidential candidate," Yildirim said, referring to the People's Alliance the AK Party formed with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which has also endorsed Erdogan.

The AK Party and MHP are allied for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Erdogan has served as president since 2014 -- Turkey's first popularly elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister, from 2003 to 2014.

Should he win the June election, Erdogan would be Turkey's first leader under the presidential system, doing away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.