Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed outgoing Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as acting prime minister, according to an announcement in the official gazette, moments after being sworn in as Turkey’s 12th head of state.
Erdoğan was set to receive Davutoğlu at 8 p.m on Aug. 28 to appoint him to form a new Cabinet, which will be presented by the new prime minister on Aug. 29.
Following the ceremony that saw Erdoğan sworn in as Turkey’s new president at Parliament, Davutoğlu had an adhoc meeting with Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek.
Davutoğlu bids farewell to Foreign Ministry
Ahmet Davutoğlu, elected as chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has bid farewell to his colleagues at the Foreign Ministry, saying active diplomacy would be his legacy at the ministry.
“I previously said I don’t want to see a passive diplomat. This legacy will go on,” Davutoğlu said, while addressing Foreign Ministry personnel on Aug. 28.
He asked the ministry to accelerate Turkey’s European Union membership process with the EU and demanded Turkey be more active and visible in international institutions.
While, praising the Foreign Ministry’s traditions, Davutoğlu said those traditions should continue with modernization.
“Turkey’s self-confidence in foreign policy increased,” Davutoğlu said, expressing his gratitude to his former personnel for their hard work during his term.
“The plane has become my home,” Davutoğlu said referring to his intense working schedule and adding he expects the new foreign minister to work at the same pace.
Undersecretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry Feridun Sinirlioğlu, for his part, thanked Davutoğlu for advancing the personnel and the institution during his tenure.
Despite the country’s success in diplomacy in recent years, Davutoğlu acknowledged that Turkey had to confront the problems it faces on its borders.
“There are at least seven or eight troubled countries in Turkey’s region. In order to become one of the top ten biggest economies in the world, Turkey needs to provide peace and stability in the region,” he said
In his speech, Davutoğlu also mentioned the Turkish consulate personnel in Mosul who were abducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levent (ISIL), saying he wished they were in Turkey and would come home very soon.
Outgoing President Abdullah Gül will immediately leave Ankara and depart for Istanbul, where he plans to reside in the near future, after Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony.
In the midst of a lengthy and tumultuous political process, the Turkish capital marked yet another milestone yesterday, when President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chaired a Cabinet meeting in his current capacity as prime minister for the last time.
Still, it would not be surprising for the public if Turkey’s new head of state gathers the Council of Ministers and chairs a Cabinet meeting while in the presidential Çankaya Palace, as he has constantly made clear that he is determined to use all the authorities granted to him by the Constitution.
In the run-up to the recent presidential election and after the election which he won by a popular vote, Erdoğan has repeatedly argued that the current Constitution grants “executive power” to a president who comes to office via the popular vote, just as the 1982 Constitution granted “executive power” to coup leader Kenan Evren.
Erdoğan, 60, will make a flamboyant entrance to the new and highest stage of his political career on Aug. 28, with more than a dozen heads of states and governments having already announced plans to attend the official ceremony when outgoing President Abdullah Gül hands over office to Erdoğan. Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek has already called for an extraordinary session of the General Assembly to gather when Erdoğan takes his oath of office before Parliament.
Erdoğan is expected to formally name Davutoğlu, 55, as prime minister and provide him with a mandate to form a new Cabinet on the same day as he takes office as president on Aug. 28. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to call Parliament’s General Assembly for an extraordinary session on Aug. 30 for the reading out of the government’s program, if the new Cabinet is published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 29.
For his part, Davutoğlu has been concentrating on his next post after Erdoğan announced on Aug. 21, following a meeting of his ruling AKP’s executive body, that the party was designating Davutoğlu to replace him as the party’s new leader and prime minister.
Priorities and Babacan
During his first meeting with Erdoğan’s inner Cabinet after being named Erdoğan’s successor, Davutoğlu vowed to maintain economic stability, including working with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan in the new Cabinet.
Davutoğlu held a meeting at his ruling AKP headquarters on Aug. 24 in order to work on his government’s program, as well as the upcoming extraordinary congress.
After being briefed by AKP Deputy Chair Süleyman Soylu concerning preparations for the Aug. 27 congress, at which he will be formally nominated as the party’s new chair, Davutoğlu held a lengthy meeting with key members of the Cabinet, focusing on the new government’s program. Interior Minister Efkan Ala, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, Transport Minister Lütfi Elvan, Youth and Sports Minister Çağatay Kılıç, AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Nurettin Canikli, AKP Ankara deputy and top adviser to Erdoğan, Yalçın Akdoğan, and AKP İzmir deputy and another key adviser to Erdoğan, Binali Yıldırım, were among the attendees at the three-hour meeting.
Meanwhile, on the evening of Aug. 23, Davutoğlu’s residence was the venue for a more confidential meeting, which was attended only by Babacan, Akdoğan and Elvan.
The Aug. 23 meeting was held in a “positive atmosphere,” with Davutoğlu reportedly telling Babacan about his wish to continue “working together in the new Cabinet and resuming Babacan’s economy policies,” one source said.
The markets broadly consider the fates of Babacan, the government’s point-man on the economy, and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek to be vital, as both are regarded as the guarantors of sensible economic policies under the AKP.
Reports last week had suggested that Babacan could be heading for the door, but his prominence in Erdoğan’s recent appearances has changed minds.
“Recent news suggests that Babacan and Şimşek, the market’s two favorite ministers, are likely to retain their positions in the new Cabinet,” said Finansbank in a note to its clients.
Not a puppet
While hectic work is continuing at the Ankara Arena Sports Hall to prepare for the extraordinary congress on Aug. 27, in Istanbul the AKP provincial chair Aziz Babuşçu was emphasizing that Davutoğlu would not be a "puppet,” despite claims to the contrary by the two major opposition parties.
According to Babuşçu, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are both seeking ways of creating an internal conflict within the AKP.
“There is something which they forgot. The AK Party is not an ordinary party. That’s why [CHP leader Kemal] Kılıçdaroğlu and others who think like him should not daydream for nothing,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
“Our new prime minister has a very strong character that he wouldn’t be a puppet. He also has sufficient consciousness to know that being with Erdoğan means being with the nation,” Babuşçu added.
Turkey’s ruling party has formally designated Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to be the successor of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as both prime minister and chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), marking the start of a new era in Turkish political life.
The AKP’s Central Executive Board (MYK), which was convened under Erdoğan’s leadership, decided to propose Davutoğlu’s name for the chairmanship of the party, which will be elected during the AKP’s extraordinary congress in Ankara on Aug. 27.
The decision was announced by Erdoğan after a three-hour meeting at the party headquarters.
"Our nominee is our foreign minister, our Konya deputy, our brother Ahmet Davutoğlu," Erdoğan told the crowd, which included government ministers and journalists, at the AKP headquarters in Ankara on Aug. 21.
He said Davutoğlu was chosen following “very delicate deliberations” and due to his “determination to fight the ‘parallel state.’” The term “parallel state” is used by government supporters to refer to the followers of Islamic scholar and the AKP's ally-turned-nemesis Fethullah Gülen, who has been in voluntary exile in the United States for over a decade.
“We had consultations with everybody from the people on the street to the highest bodies of our party,” Erdoğan added regarding the selection of Davutoğlu. “We have come to a certain point in peace and brotherhood; the unity of this movement comes above everything. Many people hope for cracks within our party, but we have survived such operations.”
Davutoğlu took the stage after Erdoğan, addressing him as "Mr. President."
"The movement of the AK Party was not the product of a certain context. It is a movement rooted in a state tradition that walks to the future, and our president is our leader," Davutoğlu said, describing the party as "a movement that closed the interregnum and restored our state."
"The great restoration movement that has been realized over the past 12 years will continue without interruption. The country that was regarded as a sick man 12 years ago is now on its feet, has remembered its historic mission, and started a blessed march," he added, vowing that neither the "parallel state" nor any other force could stop this march.
Davutoğlu is expected to be given the mandate to form the next government by Erdoğan on Aug. 29, a day after the official presidential handover. He will become Turkey’s 26th prime minister following a procedural confidence vote at Parliament in early September.
Strong support for Davutoğlu
In-house consultations conducted by Erdoğan following his election as president on Aug. 10 indicated that Davutoğlu’s name was endorsed by the AKP’s relevant bodies and a considerable number of lawmakers. Even outgoing President Abdullah Gül recently touched on Davutoğlu’s probably candidacy for both positions, adding that he was sure the current foreign minister would be successful in his new capacity.
The most prominent supporters of Davutoğlu include a group of younger generation politicians led by Ankara deputy Yalçın Akdoğan, one of Erdoğan’s closest advisors. Erdoğan’s decision to select Davutoğlu as the new leader may therefore also be interpreted as a sign that the ongoing struggle between young and veteran members of the AKP is coming to an end.
Davutoğlu’s controversial foreign policy is still being discussed inside and outside Turkey. A former professor of international relations, Davutoğlu was appointed as foreign minister in 2009, despite not being a lawmaker at the time. He entered Parliament in 2011 as Konya deputy; but his role in shaping Turkish foreign policy dates back to 2002 under his capacity as chief advisor to PM Erdoğan and then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül. His book, titled “Strategic Depth,” contains important hints about the foreign policy understanding he has been propagating.
Why did Erdoğan chose Davutoğlu?
There are various factors in Erdoğan’s selection of Davutoğlu as his successor. One of the most important reasons is the belief that Davutoğlu, as elected prime minister, would be the best option to work in full harmony with Erdoğan as elected president. For many, this harmony has been well tested over the years and Erdoğan would surely capitalize on it during his presidential tenure, to be started on Aug. 28.
In addition, Davutoğlu’s loyalty to Erdoğan during difficult times, such as last summer’s anti-government Gezi Park protests, Dec. 17 corruption operation, fight against the “parallel state,” as well as his role in challenging Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu throughout the presidential election campaign, are seen as big pluses in the AKP.
As a respected figure in the party and a well-known figure among the AKP’s grassroots, Davutoğlu is also believed to have the capacity to run the party’s new cadres and management without causing too much in-house tension. This is particularly the case as Erdoğan wants a permanent AKP chairman and prime minister who will work with him at least until 2019.
Another factor paving the way for Davutoğlu is his academic background, which has contributed to the AKP’s nationalist-conservative rhetoric and policies. Although long criticized by many for pursuing dangerous “neo-Ottoman policies,” his passionate involvement in developments in Gaza, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere is seen as a positive among many AKP supporters.
