Turkey PM appointed to form interim government in run-up to election

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/25/turkey-pm-ahmet-davutoglu-interim-government-election

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Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has been appointed to form an interim government that will lead the country to a new election later this year after attempts to form a coalition government failed.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan formally called for the election on Monday, after an inconclusive vote in June. The election board confirmed the poll would take place on 1 November.

Davutoğlu has five days to form a temporary cabinet, which would include members of the opposition, to oversee the poll. Two main opposition parties, however, have said they will not participate in the interim administration.

The opposition accuses Erdoğan of triggering a new election in the hope that the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he founded, can win back its parliamentary majority and rule alone again. Opinion polls, however, suggest November’s poll may not reverse the AKP’s losses, and another hung parliament is a possibility.

Davutoğlu is now likely to form an administration comprising independent figures and members of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish political party, who would be take ministerial posts for the first time in the country’s history.

That would put the prime minister in the awkward position of governing with members of a party that had been ruled out as a coalition partner because of its alleged links to outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels seeking Kurdish autonomy.

The forthcoming election deepens uncertainty in Turkey. . Violence between the security forces and PKK rebels has increased sharply and the country has become more deeply involved in the US-led campaign against Islamic State.

More than 100 people, mostly soldiers and police, have been killed since July in renewed conflict between the PKK and the security forces. The clashes have interrupted a peace process that has been running for two and half years.