Turkey: AK Party-CHP coalition talks end without result

Baku. 14 August REPORT.AZ/ Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced that his Justice and Development (AK) Party's negotiations with the Republican People's Party (CHP) have ended without an agreement to form a coalition government.

Report informs referring the information given by the Anadolu Agency, addressing a press conference at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara on Thursday, Davutoglu said, "We have come to the conclusion that the groundwork for a government partnership has not materialized," citing "profound differences, mainly in foreign policy and education".

He said that the CHP side had expressed "reservations" about a "short-term reform government", marking one of the main differences in the two parties' views.

With just over a week to go before the deadline for a coalition government expires, early elections “is a strong possibility", Davutoglu said, while leaving the door open for talks with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

AK Party and the CHP have the first and second largest parliamentary groups after the June 7 general election, with 258 and 131 seats, respectively. The MHP and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party (HDP) have 80 seats each.

Davutoglu denounced allegations that he and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had differences on whether to form a government or hold early elections, saying: “The idea that the president did not want a coalition and I was pushing for it instead is nothing but slander.

“The president never told me that ‘it would be better without the coalition’.”

Davutoglu said that his party “will never leave this country without a government for a second”, and would strive to prevent any crisis.

The prime minister noted that he preferred the Turkish parliament to act on its own to decide on early elections, rather than the president declaring it.