Turkish MHP leader allowed to hold coalition talks

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday that coalition talks with the main opposition party had failed, paving the way for snap legislative elections as Ankara battles its biggest security crisis against militants in years.

Party officials told reporters after the more than four hour-long meeting that the leaders would hold further talks later in the week.

CHP Deputy Akif Hamzaçebi explained that the way the law is worded, it is clear there will be no additional aid in case of a snap election, “The lawmakers naturally didn’t think about adding a clause in case there were two general elections in one year”.

Since the June 7 elections in which the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lost its absolute majority, Turkey has renewed its armed struggle with Kurdish separatists and has more fully embraced war with the militants of the Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

The government has denied the claims.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu will hold a final discussion after their respective parties ended a series of “exploratory” talks over forming a coalition.

The AKP fell short of the majority it needed to form its own government.

The premier will make an announcement about the next steps leading up to the August 23 deadline to form Turkey’s next administration.

“We are not open to a minority or election government”, Bahceli said on Thursday, referring to a transition administration ahead of early parliamentary elections.

The two party leaders were meeting Monday to address issues where no consensus was reached.

A coalition with the CHP could have taught the AKP how to embrace other members of the society and to build a future based on inclusion.

AKP officials said the prospect of a November 22 election, a week after a G20 summit in Turkey, is gaining credence within the party and was “one step closer” than the preference of a coalition with the CHP or nationalist MHP.

The prime reason for the AKP’s failure to win an overall majority was the strong performance of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) which won over 13 percent of the vote.

“The AK Party does not want to form a government with us”.

“From a sentiment standpoint, Turkey needs a snap election right now like it needs a hole in the head”, said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London.

As for the impact of creation of a coalition of AKP and MHP on the relations between Turkey and Armenia, it can be said Armenia in such a case will have to completely bury the hope for opening the Turkish-Armenian border.