Turkish PM says he prefers forming a coalition like a company: strong and with an honest partner

ANKARA

DHA Photo

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has stated that he would prefer to form a strong coalition government than to hold power as a minority government, while likening the process of creating a coalition to the founding of a “company,” through “fierce bargaining.”

“In order not to leave Turkey without government in such a critical environment, minority government would be tried as one of the last [options]. We will not close the door to this [minority government], like how we are not [closing the door to] any option but this would not be our primary intent. When I find an honest and sincere counterpart, then I would prefer forming coalition,” Davutoğlu said late July 17.

The leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which lost parliamentary majority in the June 7 election, said he would never like “writing a book nor making politics under the sword of Damocles,” as he underlined his avoidance of a minority government situation because it would always need another party’s support. 

“Instead of that, I would prefer forming a decent company with a partner as a result of manly, if need be fierce, bargaining,” he said, in an interview aired live on private Habertürk and Show TV channels.

Davutoğlu also disclosed that he was open to talks with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he frequently accuses of being provocative.

“I cannot say that I would not meet a party which got 13 percent of the vote,” he said, referring to the HDP. “I need to say that a party that couldn’t get rid of its ties with terror and violence will, in time, face a legitimacy problem,” Davutoğlu, nonetheless, added, referring to his government’s well-known argument that the HDP was actually under the tutelage of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).