Turkey’s ruling AKP heads into congress in shadow of Erdogan

“A single-party government needs to be ensured to fight both the terror plague and economic challenges”, said Davutoglu.

Party officials say that, among numerous bones of contention within the ranks, there is much argument over the fact that Davutoğlu considered forming a coalition after the AK Party lost its absolute majority at an election in June.

When Turkey’s ruling AK Party convenes its three-yearly congress in the capital Ankara on Saturday, the longest shadow will be cast by a politician who, officially at least, is no longer even a member: President Tayyip Erdogan.

As president, Erdogan is supposed to be above party politics.

Erdogan did not attend the congress but his two increasingly high-profile daughters – Esra and Sumeyye – sat in the front row.

Davutoglu held up Turkey now being a…

His speech was frequently interrupted by party supporters shouting slogans such as: “Martyrs never die, the homeland is indivisible”.

Public outrage against Kurds has been growing in the wake of clashes between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces, with mobs attacking Kurdish neighborhoods and pro-Kurdish, leftwing People’s Democratic Party (HDP) offices across the country.

Erdogan’s son-in-law, as well as Yildirim and his former lawyer were all named to executive committees on Saturday, while Davutoglu’s allies were conspicuously absent. “Freedom of press forms the basis of any functioning democracy”, tweeted UK Ambassador to Turkey Richard Moore late Tuesday night, “I$3 totally agree with Interior Minister’s earlier comment on importance of respect for the rule of law”.

“There’s little question that one individual weighed closely on the occasion – his identify is Recep Tayyip Erdogan“, Turkey’s Fox TV correspondent Sedat Bozkurt advised AFP, saying that “party loyalists… have been changed by Erdogan loyalists”.

In the occasion no problem materialised, with the hypothesis seen as a warning shot throughout Davutoglu’s bows ought to the party come up brief on November 1.

Davutoglu received all of the 1,353 valid votes (out of 1,380 party delegates) and was elected as chairman during AK Party’s 5th Ordinary Congress in the capital, Ankara.

But Gul additionally despatched a message, urging the AKP to “act with widespread sense… with out straying away from its id and beliefs”.