Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu begins talks on forming coalition government
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Version 0 of 1. Turkey’s prime minister has begun a first round of talks on forming a coalition government by meeting members of the main opposition party. Ahmet Davutoğlu met Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and other leaders of the secular Republican People’s party to test the waters of a possible “grand coalition”. The election on 7 June left Davutoğlu’s Justice and Development party (AKP), which is rooted in Islamism, short of a majority, forcing it to seek a partner among the three smaller parties in parliament. Together the AKP and the secularists would have an unassailable majority, but they have deep-seated rivalries. Davutoğlu is to meet the leaders of the hardline Nationalist Movement on Tuesday and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party on Wednesday, although he has previously ruled out an alliance with the Kurds. He has 45 days to form a government. Related: Turkey election results: what you need to know The AKP’s likely partners have all demanded a diminished role for the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as a condition for any deal. They insist that Erdoğan – who founded the AKP, led it as prime minister for more than a decade and remains a dominant political force – must be reined in and that accept the presidency’s largely ceremonial role. Davutoğlu has said the president’s position is not up for debate. The smaller parties have also demanded that corruption investigations into four former ministers close to Erdoğan be reopened. Analysts say a coalition between the AKP and the Republican People’s party would be difficult to sustain. The Nationalist Movement, which shares a conservative voter base with the AKP, is a more natural ally. An alliance with the secularists would, however, allow the government to press ahead with a two-year-old peace process with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels. The nationalists strongly oppose the talks. Turkey’s voters snubbed Erdoğan’s plans to change the constitution and strengthen his grip on power, delivering the biggest blow to the AKP since it took office in 2002. The election result wrecked Erdoğan’s ambition of rewriting the constitution to establish himself as an all-powerful executive president, while the country’s large Kurdish minority won its biggest voice ever in national politics. |