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Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu resigns Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu resigns
(about 1 hour later)
The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has announced his resignation in a dramatic turn of events that will boost the power of the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has announced his resignation after 20 months in office, consolidating Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s position as Turkey’s unrivalled political leader and highlighting concerns about the country turning increasingly authoritarian.
Divisions between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan, rumoured for months, erupted into the open on Wednesday, with the two leaders holding crisis talks at the presidential palace. The resignation, rumoured for several days amid deteriorating relations between the two leaders, paves the way for President Erdoğan to appoint an even more loyalist party member as Davutoğlu’s successor, a move dubbed a “palace coup” by critics and opposition politicians.
On Thursday Davutoğlu said he would step down after an extraordinary party meeting to be held on 22 May. Speaking at the Justice and Development (AKP) party’s headquarters in Ankara, Davutoğlu said he would step down after an extraordinary party meeting on 22 May and not run for the office again.
“After consultations with the president I decided that it would be more appropriate for the unity of [the AKP] to change the chairman,” Davutoğlu said, adding that his period in office had been a successful one: “I have no sense of failure or regret in taking that decision.” He said he would “continue the struggle” as a party legislator.
The announcement came one day after intense talks between Erdoğan and Davutoğlu, during which they did not manage to smooth out their differences. Tension had been simmering since shortly after Davutoğlu replaced Erdoğan as prime minister in August 2014 but recently intensified.
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Speaking at the ruling Justice and Development party’s (AKP) headquarters in Ankara, Davutoğlu listed his accomplishments while in office, underlining that he steered the country through turmoil and terrorist attacks with “an iron will”. He added that he would continue his work for the AKP as an MP and that there should not be any doubts over the stability of the government. The closely watched discussion held on Wednesday night in the presidential palace in Ankara followed the publication of a posting on the anonymous Turkish blog Pelican Brief, named in a nod to the political thriller.
“A strong AKP government will continue to lead for the next four years, and there should not be any doubts concerning safety and stability,” Davutoğlu said. The author, thought to be a journalist with close ties to Erdoğan, accused Davutoğlu of conspiring with Turkey’s enemies and western powers to sideline the president.
He said his decision to resign was not a “choice, but a necessity” that was made after consultations with the president. He added that one reason for stepping down was a decision by the party’s executive to take away his authority to appoint provincial party leaders. But on Thursday, Davutoğlu refrained from criticising Erdoğan.
Davutoğlu became prime minister in August 2014 when Erdoğan moved from the premiership to the presidency. He was expected to play a backseat role as Erdoğan pushed ahead with plans to make the largely ceremonial role into an all-powerful executive position, yet Davutoğlu tried to act independently on a range of issues and had at best offered half-hearted support to plans for a stronger presidency.
The two differed over the pre-trial imprisonment of academics and journalists, which Davutoğlu opposed, and over the possibility of the resumption of a peace process with the Kurdish rebels, which Erdoğan ruled out.
Davutoğlu also championed a deal with the EU to stem the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea – an issue in which the president has shown little interest.
Despite clear tensions between himself and Erdoğan, he refrained from criticising the president in his speech.
“Erdoğan’s honour is my honour,” he said. “I will not accept any speculation concerning my relationship with President Erdoğan. We have always stood shoulder to shoulder.”“Erdoğan’s honour is my honour,” he said. “I will not accept any speculation concerning my relationship with President Erdoğan. We have always stood shoulder to shoulder.”
Related: European commission faces challenge to grant visa-free travel to Turks Davutoğlu had been expected to play a backseat role as prime minister as Erdoğan pushed ahead with plans to make the largely ceremonial presidency into an all-powerful executive position, but he tried to act independently on a range of issues.
Relations between Erdoğan and Davutoğlu had been seen by analysts as uneasy, but the speed with which the problems burst into the open took many by surprise. His exit could pave the way for Erdoğan to hand-pick an even more loyalist and pliant head of government and push through controversial constitutional changes to strengthen the presidency.
A big hint that Davutoğlu’s days were numbered came late on Sunday when a posting on the anonymous Turkish blog Pelican Brief, believed to have been authored by people close to Erdoğan, aired the presidential camp’s alleged grievances with Davutoğlu, including not advocating for the presidential system favoured by Erdoğan strongly enough. “This is a catastrophic situation,” said Levent Gültekin, a writer and columnist. “This is a decisive step towards one-man rule in Turkey. From now on the only Turkey we will be able to see is the Turkey of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”
The tumult at the top of Turkish politics unnerved financial markets, with the lira extending Wednesday’s losses to drop 1.09% in value against the US dollar. Gültekin added that the next party leader and prime minister would be someone “with no views or opinions of their own”.
Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, described Davutoğlu’s resignation as a “palace coup” in a press conference called immediately after. “Davutoğlu’s resignation should not be perceived as an internal party issue, all democracy supporters must resist this palace coup,” he said at the Republican People’s party headquarters in Ankara. The justice minister, Bekir Bozdağ, the transport minister, Binali Yıldırım, and the government spokesman, Numan Kurtulmuş, all known to be Erdoğan loyalists, have been named as possible successors to Davutoğlu. Even Berat Albayrak, the energy minister and Erdoğan’s son-in-law, is said to be a contender.
Since becoming president in August 2014 after over a decade as prime minister, Erdoğan has sought to tighten his grip on the levers of power, leading critics to accuse him of authoritarianism. Gültekin underlined that Davutoğlu did not have sufficient support either in the AKP or among Turkey’s voters to challenge Erdoğan.
The appointment of a potentially more pliant prime minister would allow Erdoğan to further consolidate his powers as he seeks to win backing for controversial constitutional changes to give Turkey a stronger presidency. “Those that don’t like Erdoğan dislike Davutoğlu even more,” he said. “The lack of support for Davutoğlu inside the AKP was one of the reasons Erdoğan chose him as prime minister in the first place. He would not have risked it if there was a chance that Davutoğlu could take even one MP with him, because Erdoğan needs the vote of every single AKP MP to reach his goals.”
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute, said Davutoğlu’s departure would be the next stage in a “hollowing out” of Turkish institutions by Erdoğan, who already controls the army and parliament. While there have never been open spats between the two leaders, with Davutoğlu largely appearing as Erdoğan’s compliant devotee, both men disagreed on major areas of policymaking, including the management of the economy and the possibility of the resumption of peace talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which Erdoğan staunchly opposed.
Related: Turkish journalists accuse Erdoğan of media witch-huntRelated: Turkish journalists accuse Erdoğan of media witch-hunt
“It shows how much power has been massed in one person’s hands,” he said, adding that Erdoğan was now exercising more control than anyone in Turkey’s modern democratic history. The two also differed over the pre-trial imprisonment of academics and journalists, which Davutoğlu opposed. Davutoğlu had championed a deal with the EU to stem the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea – an issue in which the president has shown little interest.
The departure of Davutoğlu “will allow Erdoğan to distance himself from some of his failed policies that can be attributed to Davutoğu”, he added. One major conflict emerged when Davutoğlu proposed and publicly backed legislation aimed at tackling corruption – known as the “transparency package”. Erdoğan, who as prime minister had been embroiled in a serious corruption scandal that involved several government officials and his immediate family, made sure the bill was withdrawn.
Leading potential successors to Davutoğlu include the transport minister, Binali Yildirim, a longtime ally of the president, and the youthful energy minister, Berat Albayrak, 38, who is married to the president’s eldest daughter, Esra. “Erdoğan does not want anyone in the party who does not fully agree with him, or anyone who would have their own opinion on any topic,” Gültekin explained. “Davutoğlu was one of the last AK party politicians who would make suggestions of change to Erdoğan’s policies.”
But press reports also suggested a less high-profile figure was possible, such as the deputy prime minister, Yalçin Akdoğan, justice minister, Bekir Bozdağ, or AKP deputy chair Mehmet Ali Şahin. Rumours about a growing rift between the two boiled over last week, when the AKP’s executive board stripped Davutoğlu of his authority to appoint provincial party leaders while he was on a government visit to Qatar.
“Whoever the new PM will be, it is clear that it will mean more power over the government by the president,” said Ozgur Altug, chief economist at BGC partners in Istanbul. “The decision to take away my authority to appoint party leaders is something I would have expected from fellow party members,” Davutoğlu said on Thursday in a rare sign of defiance.
Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report