"(Turkish) people will do what is necessary on May 14," he told his ruling party lawmakers in the parliament in Ankara.

Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held on June 18 but President Erdogan previously signalled that the vote could be brought forward.

The May 14 election date was also supported by opposition alliance, which pledged to change the constitution back to the way things worked throughout most of Turkey's post-Ottoman history.

The ammendments eliminated the premiership and created a powerful new executive that allowed the president to effectively rule by decree.

Erdogan, who has been in power for two decades, is a candidate for his own succession. He became prime minister in 2003, before amending Turkey's Constitution and becoming president. He was elected by universal suffrage, in 2014.

The Turkish leader has received strong criticism from earthquake survivors over rescue delays while visiting one of the areas hit hardest by the deadly earthquake earlier on Feb. 6.

Shortly after the quake, Erdogan had admitted "shortcomings" in the government's handling of the disaster and asked for forgiveness over rescue delays.

"Due to the devastating effect of the tremors and the bad weather, we were not able to work the way we wanted in Adiyaman for the first few days. I apologise for this," Erdogan said on Monday.

The February 6 quake killed more then 44,000 people in Turkey and thousands more in neighbouring Syria.

The catastrophe struck just as Erdogan was gaining momentum and starting to lift his approval numbers from a low suffered during a dire economic crisis that exploded last year. 

Turkiye’s six-party opposition alliance was set to announce in February their joint presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan. But, his opponents were unable to agree on a candidate for more than a year now, and the catastrophic earthquake has postponed the meeting, which was due in February.

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