Election setback evokes intra-party challenge to Erdogan

Source:Reuters Date:22Apr2019

Rumors of disgruntled former AKP heavyweights getting ready to stage a rebellion against Erdogan have been circulating for long, only to be dismissed by pro-AKP and opposition media. They are true. Former Premier Davutoglu issued a Facebook letter to the publc, which reads like a manifesto of a new party:

“The election results show that alliance politics have caused harm to our party, both in terms of voter levels and the party’s identity,” Davutoglu said in a 15-page statement.

Davutoglu said the party’s reformist, liberal ethos had been replaced in recent years by a more statist, security-based approach that was driven by concerns about preserving the status quo.

He also said recent economic policy decisions showed a move away from free market principles and that “scaring global investors necessary to the development of the country is a dead-end”, according to Reuters.

“We can’t manage the economic crisis that’s in play by denying its existence,” said Davutoglu, who is still an AKP member, though no longer in parliament. “A governance crisis lies at the root of the economic crisis that we are living”, quotes him, Bloomberg.