ANKARA — Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed a quick start to coalition talks on Thursday, after President Tayyip Erdogan instructed him to form a new government more than a month after an election deprived their AK Party of a parliamentary majority. Opposition lawmakers had accused Erdogan, a founder of the AKP and Turkey's most popular — and polarizing — political figure, of deliberately delaying the process to push for a snap election he hopes might see the AKP regain a majority.
Erdogan gave Davutoglu the mandate to form a new government during a meeting in his palace in Ankara, the presidency said. Political parties now have 45 days to form a new government or face the prospect of a re-run. The June 7 vote left the AKP unable to rule alone for the first time in over a decade, plunging Turkey into political uncertainty not seen since the 1990s and thwarting, for now, Erdogan's ambition to amass greater power.
Davutoglu told AKP members in parliament that he planned to hold a first round of coalition talks next week. Sources in his office said he would meet all three opposition parties and that the first round would be concluded by next Wednesday.
It is unclear whether the Islamist-rooted AKP is leaning toward forming a coalition with the rightist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) or the main opposition left-leaning Republican People's Party (CHP).
While the nationalists are closer to the AKP ideologically, an alliance would likely scupper a peace process with Turkey's Kurdish minority, something Erdogan sees as part of his legacy.
Sources have told Reuters some of the AKP's top brass are leaning towards a grand coalition with the secularist CHP, although it remains to be seen whether that would be palatable to the AKP's rank and file, many of whom are devout Muslims. — Reuters
