Turkey PM formally gives up on coalition as polls loom

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday informed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he had failed to form a coalition government, paving the way for new general elections just months after June polls. In a major setback for Erdogan, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in the June 7 legislative polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002, raising the prospect of the first coalition government in over a decade. But in a meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara, Davutoglu returned to Erdogan the mandate he received from the president on July 9 to begin coalition talks with opposition parties, the presidency said in a statement.

The prime minister told President Erdogan that despite all efforts he was unable to form a government that could win a vote of confidence.

Official Statement from the presidency

With all possibilities exhausted before a August 23 deadline to form the new government, Turkey is now facing snap new polls and entering uncharted political territory. It is the first time in Turkey’s history that the largest party has failed to form a coalition and repeat elections need to be held. Meanwhile a pro-Islamic State jihadist video posted on YouTube has urged Turks to rise up against President Erdogan, accusing him of being a traitor who has sided with the United States and Kurdish militants. The video – said to have been recorded in the IS-controlled Raqa province of northern Syria – is one of the clearest such threats yet made by the Islamic State extremists against Turkey.

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