A supporter of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party holds a baby as she waves Turkish flags in Istanbul
Turkey’s long-ruling party has suffered surprisingly strong losses in parliament that will force it to seek a coalition partner for the next government, but other parties yesterday vowed to resist any pact.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, won less than 41 percent of votes in Sunday’s election for Turkey’s 550-seat parliament. It was projected to take 258 seats, still top of the political heap but 18 below the minimum required to rule alone.
The result dealt a stunning rebuke to Erdogan, who had hoped to reshape Turkey’s democracy into one with a powerful presidency in which he — not parliament — would wield most control of government affairs.
Erdogan’s party colleague, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, convened his cabinet yesterday to chart the most likely course to remain in power, whether by coaxing a reluctant opponent to the table or by trying to rule alone in a parliament where the AKP will be outnumbered by three empowered rivals.
The AKP’s surprise loss of parliamentary control looks likely to undermine Erdogan’s ambitions to make Turkey a dominant regional power. The result also casts doubt over the course of a 2-year old Kurdish peace process championed by Erdogan that seeks to end the decades-old conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
Under Turkey’s constitution, once all lawmakers take their oath of office, all parties have 45 days to negotiate on forming a new governing alliance. But analysts say prospects have been soured by the divisive campaigning tactics of Erdogan, who as ceremonial head of state was legally bound to remain neutral. Instead he led fierce, partisan attacks on rival parties.
Those parties — the center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP), right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the rising pro-Kurdish voice of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) — all said yesterday they would not prop up an AKP-led government. Some said the outcome pointed to new elections.
The biggest change from Turkey’s previous parliament is the ascendancy of the People’s Democratic Party, a socially liberal force rooted in the Kurdish nationalism of Turkey’s southeast, attracting more than 12 percent of votes. Susan Fraser and Desmond Butler, Ankara, AP
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