Turkey’s President Asks PM Davutoglu to Form New Government

A handout picture provided by the Presidential Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (2-L) and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (L) greeting their supporters after attending an opening ceremony of a new mosque in Ankara, 3 July 2015. EPA

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday to form the country's new government, todayszaman.com reported.

The move comes more than a month after Turkey’s parliamentary elections in which the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority and no party won enough seats to form a government.

Davutoglu has 45 days to try to form a coalition cabinet.

AKP holds 258 of the 550 seats in Turkey’s parliament after the elections held on 7 June. The Republican People's Party (CHP) has 132, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) hold 80 each.

Davutoglu plans to launch the first round of coalition talks next week, he said at a meeting of AKP’s parliamentary group earlier on Thursday before meeting with Erdogan at the presidential palace late in the afternoon.

“We will hide nothing from the public, we will meet in a transparent way, we will be constructive,” Davutoglu said, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency (AA).

If Davutoglu is unable to form a coalition with any of the other three parties -- and none have indicated they would be willing to join the AKP in government -- tradition requires the president to offer the second-placed party the chance to form a coalition cabinet, AA said.

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