Turkish PM rules out early election

Deniz Zeyrek KAHRAMANMARAŞ

Ahmet Davutoğlu arrives at the Prime Ministry ahead of a Cabinet meeting, Oct. 27. AA Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has refuted any prospect of moving forward the upcoming parliamentary election, currently scheduled for June 7, 2015.

“The election will be held according to its original schedule,” Davutoğlu said during a visit to Kahramanmaraş over the weekend, underlining the importance of "political stability" since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in 2002.

Talk of an early election has gradually gained momentum over the past few weeks in the Turkish capital, particularly after the country’s top election board began its preparations for a parliamentary election.

However, the chief of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) denied that its current work was intended as preparation for an early election.

“It is unthinkable that the YSK will take a position according to reports in the media. Furthermore, the YSK is not the authority to make a decision for an early election. There is no early election alarm at the YSK,” YSK President Sadi Güven said on Oct. 20.

Meanwhile, Davutoğlu also floated the idea that the two opposition leaders, namely main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli, should leave their posts if they do not succeed in the upcoming elections in 2015.

“Look at the political lives of politicians in Europe, if you consider this to be an indication of political stability. There, you cannot find anyone who has continued in their political lives despite such failure,” Davutoğlu said. “In our country, however, there persistent failure but the leader keeps his post. There are no similar cases elsewhere.”

The prime minister cited his ruling AKP’s internal three-term limit for deputies, an internal regulation stipulating that members of Parliament who have served three terms must subsequently be out of office for one, as an example of how the AKP is "sticking to its principles despite its overwhelming success."

Davutoğlu also strongly rejected claims that his government has been following ethnic or sectarian-based policies.

“I was still a Sunni when we were on good terms with [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad and we were going on vacation together,” he said, referring to the fact that Turkey's bilateral relations with Syria deteriorated after the civil war erupted in 2011.