“He may believe that Davutoglu has not been successful as chair of party”.
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A Turkish court on Friday handed a suspended prison sentence of 11 months and 20 days to a 17-year-old schoolboy convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a case that raised new concerns about freedom of speech in the country.
He has endured a torrid time however, overseeing the party’s loss of its majority in June general elections, and failing to negotiate a subsequent coalition.
After the June elections, Davutoglu held inconclusive talks with opposition events to type a coalition government – an unpalatable various for the president.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has vowed to “wipe out” Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters from their mountain strongholds after 16 soldiers were killed in a rebel attack.
He further called on the people to bring the AKP to power again in the upcoming 1 November elections and to cooperate with the party against terrorism.
This was the primary AKP congress ever held within the absence of the party’s co-founder Erdogan, who served as premier from 2003-2014 and whose reputation exhibits no indicators of fading amongst party supporters.
As the congress began in a packed and sweltering arena in Ankara on Saturday, signs of Erdogan’s popularity were everywhere, with some attendees wearing headbands and red scarves emblazoned with his image.
The meeting was shortly followed by the first convention of the newly-formed Central Executive Board.
These included his son-in-law Berat Albayrak (Esra’s husband), one of the president’s top legal advisers Burhan Kuzu and former interior minister Efkan Ala.
Ahmet Davutoglu was the only candidate to run for the leadership of the party.
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.
At today’s congress 1353 delegates out of 1360 voted for him.
Former president Abdullah Gul, one of the party’s co-founders who a year ago fell out with Erdogan, did not appear at the congress although he was invited by the prime minister.
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Meanwhile, the leader of Palestinian militant movement Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, was among the foreign guests, receiving big applause from the crowd.
