Turkey's Prime Minister calls on opposition parties to bury the hatchet and discuss coalition

ANKARA

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gives a speech during the group meeting of Justice and Development (AK) Party at the party headquarters in Ankara, Turkey on June 16, 2015 AFP Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has urged opposition parties to unclench their fists and turn swords into ploughshares if they want to form a coalition with the Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

Gathered with the newly elected deputies of his party, Davutoğlu called on other political parties, which have intentions of forming a coalition government, to have discussions with the AKP.

“Let’s talk [about the] future of the country. We can’t get to the field with fists,” he said on June 16.

The prime minister reiterated the AKP would exhaust all options to form a government before it would consider an early election.

Davutoğlu also said he would not tolerate any attempt to undermine President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authority during the AKP’s talks to form a coalition government.

“Anything that targets the presidency or the president also targets us.  We will not allow the legitimacy of our president to be questioned and secondly, we will not allow the title of the presidency to be harmed,” he said.  

Davutoğlu dismissed Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s argument that 60 percent of Turkey voted against the AKP. “There is no 60 percent bloc vote. What does ‘bloc’ mean?” he asked, accusing the CHP head of using “the language of polarization.”

The prime minister criticized the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for closing its doors to a coalition. “The MHP always says what other parties have to do. People want to know. What do you want? They should openly tell about their position,” said Davutoğlu. 

“We’ll all suffer the pain of not being able to come to power alone,” he said. But these pains would be “labor pains,” according to Davutoğlu.

“New Turkey will rise, whatever it will be,” he said.