Turkey ‘swiftly’ heading to snap polls: Erdogan

ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey was heading rapidly towards snap polls after efforts to form a coalition government failed, creating an unprecedented situation in the country’s modern history.
Erdogan spoke a day after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu informed the president he had failed to form a coalition government following talks with the opposition.
“We are once again swiftly heading towards an election,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara, adding that the only solution in the current political impasse was turning to the “will of the nation”.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in the June 7 polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002, forcing it to seek a coalition partner.
Under the constitution, the president should now be obliged to give a mandate to form a coalition government to the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which came second in the election. But Erdogan on Wednesday hinted that he would not do so, just days ahead of an August 23 deadline to form a new government.
“I have no time to lose with those who do not know the address of Bestepe,” where his controversial new presidential palace is located, he said.
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has refused to set foot in Erdogan’s palace, which the opposition party has called “illegal”.
Erdogan was due to meet with parliament speaker Ismet Yilmaz later on Wednesday.
According to the constitution, the AKP will be able to continue as a minority government until elections if a majority in parliament votes in favour of early polls.
If however Erdogan uses his right to call the election himself, a so-called “election government” will be formed until the polls, consisting of members from all four parties represented in parliament.
The elections should be held 90 days after being called, meaning that November 22 would be a possibility were Erdogan to call the polls shortly after the August 23 deadline.