For months, Davutoglu resisted Erdogan’s bid to change Turkey’s political structure to invest more power in the presidency.
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“Turkey, when it’s under attack from terrorist organizations from all sides, the European Union is telling us to change the anti-terror law in exchange for the visa deal”, said Erdogen.
The 28-nation bloc’s executive body said Turkey has five remaining benchmarks, out of an initial 72, to fulfill before the European Parliament is set to vote on whether almost 80 million Turkish citizens will be able to travel freely in the Schengen borderless zone.
Ankara says the laws are necessary given ongoing fight with Kurdish militants in the country and the threat of Daesh terrorist group in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
“Davutoglu’s better reception in DC made Erdogan furious, people say”, continued Erdemir.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s departure has raised hard questions about the government’s ability to tackle slowing growth and pass the structural reforms that many investors are demanding.
After being elected president in 2014, Mr Erdogan chose Mr Davutoglu to succeed him as premier and leader of the AKP party. In exchange, the European Union wants Turkey to meet certain conditions, among them a revision of its harsh anti-terrorism laws.
Norbert Röttgen, the leader of the Bundestag’s foreign policy committee and a member of the Christian Democrats (CDU), called Ahmet Davutoglu’s resignation announcement bad news for Europe and for Turkey.
Erdoğan said on Friday he was also pressing for a rapid switch to a presidential system, turning the constitutionally ceremonial position of president into a stronger executive office. Davutoglu also sought a meeting with President Obama, according to Turkish media reports, and though the meeting did not happen, the analysts said it nevertheless raised the ire of Erdogan.
“This development is likely to consolidate Erdogan’s power and speed up his authoritarian agenda”, said Gonul Tol, director of the Center for Turkish Studies at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Mehmet Altan, an economist and author of dozens of books on Turkey, said the Turkish president plans to hold an early election at a time that will catch the opposition off-guard and give the ruling party more power in the Parliament.
The names being floated as the possible new premier include the so-called “three Bs” ― Erdogan’s veteran ally Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, his own son-in-law Energy Minister Berat Albayrak and the uber-loyal Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag.
“The fact that my term lasted far shorter than four years was not a decision of mine but it was out of the necessity”, Davutoglu said in his farewell speech, suggesting he was forced to do so.
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“Maintaining the military drive against the PKK is part of Erdogan’s strategy to win the nationalist constituency and their backing for a new constitution and presidential system”, Ozcan said by phone on Thursday. The Obama administration, too, saw Mr. Davutoglu as more of a collaborative realist than the prickly Mr. Erdogan.
