Yahoo – AFP,
Fulya Ozerkan, 21 Aug 2014
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday named Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to succeed him as ruling party leader and prime minister, promoting an ally who is expected to show unstinting loyalty to the new head of state.
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday named Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to succeed him as ruling party leader and prime minister, promoting an ally who is expected to show unstinting loyalty to the new head of state.
Erdogan --
who has dominated Turkey's political scene for 11 years as prime minister -- is
to be inaugurated as president next week after his election victory earlier
this month.
Davutoglu
immediately vowed that "no seeds of discord" could be sown between
him and Erdogan, who wants to rule as a powerful head of state and is set to
remain Turkey's undisputed number one.
Turkey's
president-elect Recep Tayyip
Erdogan waves to members of his
ruling Justice and
Development Party
(AKP) in Ankara on August 21, 2014
(AFP Photo/Adem Altan)
|
Davutoglu's
nomination will be rubber-stamped by an extraordinary congress of the AKP on
August 27 and he will take office a day later when Erdogan is inaugurated.
"I
believe our candidate for party leadership and prime minister will realise the
ideal of a new Turkey and the AKP's targets for 2023" when modern Turkey
celebrates its 100th anniversary, Erdogan said.
Heaping
praise on Davutoglu, he vowed that the AKP would stay unified as it prepares
for legislative elections in 2015.
"We
are passing through a very important test. The upcoming week is very important,
as well as the long process that will begin afterwards," said Erdogan.
"We
will not make our enemies happy."
'Stand
together'
Davutoglu
has been a loyal servant to Erdogan as an advisor before being promoted to the
job of foreign minister in 2009.
He enjoyed
an elite Western-style education and is fluent in several languages but emerged
as the chief architect and ideologue of Turkey's assertive foreign policy under
Erdogan.
Criticised
as neo-Ottoman or even pan-Islamic by some academics, the core of Davutoglu's
policy has been to make Turkey a world power projecting its influence across
the region.
Television
journalists report from outside
the headquarters of Turkey's ruling Justice
and
Development Party (AKP) party in
Ankara, on August 21, 2014 (AFP
Photo/Adem
Altan)
|
His loyalty
has never been in question and Davutoglu's first comments after being named
indicated there would be no splits between his future government and president
Erdogan.
"I
assure you that our party will continue to stand together. No seeds of discord
can be planted between you and me, Mr President," he said.
"This
restoration movement which we started 12 years ago will continue without any
interruption," he added, referring to the period since the AKP first came
to power in 2002.
'Puppet
prime minister?'
Opponents
blasted the choice, saying that Davutoglu would be no more than a puppet of
Erdogan and the promotion was an unjustified reward for a disastrous stint as
foreign minister.
"One
would wish that the office of prime minister is built upon achievements, not
failures. Today Davutoglu is a man regarded more with criticism than
praise," said Aykan Erdemir, lawmaker of the opposition Republican
People's Party (CHP).
As
president, Erdogan is widely expected to wield great influence over his party
in the run-up to the 2015 parliamentary polls.
CHP leader
Kemal Kilicdaroglu told Today's Zaman newspaper that Turkey was heading to a
"new era of puppet prime ministers".
Turkey's
outgoing president Abdullah Gul
makes a speech during a reception at the
Presidential Palace of Cankaya, in Ankara,
on August 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Murat
Cetinmuhurdar)
|
Davutoglu's
nomination paves the way for a wider shake-up of Turkish politics that is
expected to follow Erdogan's inauguration on August 28.
Turkish
media reports have predicted a cabinet packed with Erdogan allies, in an
indication the new president plans to keep a tight control over government.
In a
notable move, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT),
Hakan Fidan, a staunch Erdogan ally, is tipped to take over from Davutoglu as
foreign minister.
Outgoing
President Abdullah Gul had been seen as a candidate for the premiership but had
the door slammed shut on him in what many saw as ruthless humilation by his
enemies in the AKP.
The extent
of his bitterness was hinted at on Tuesday by his wife Hayrunnisa who
complained her husband had been the victim of "many falsehoods and a great
deal of disrespect".
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