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Turkish prime minister holds last-ditch coalition talks

Coalition-building efforts with Turkey’s pro-secular party had collapsed last week.

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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) met with the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli on Monday.

Then Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that early parliamentary election will be held in Turkey.

The nationalist party had set stiff conditions for a partnership with the ruling party, including ensuring that Erdogan – a domineering political figure- does not exceed his constitutional powers and that corruption investigations into people close to the president are reopened.

Before the fruitless push to partner with nationalists, Mr. Davutoglu explored possibilities with the main-opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP.

It took place at Bahceli’s office at the Turkish parliament and lasted for almost two-and-a-half hours.

Concerns over the political situation have seen the Turkish Lira hit a record low.

Davutoglu said at the time that AKP negotiators had offered a “medium-term reform government” to the CHP, but “no common ground has been found”.

The country is now facing renewed conflict between the state and the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Davutoglu has given no date for early elections, which some observers expect as soon as October or November.

Snap elections could be on the horizon if an agreement is not reached by August 23, 2015.

The AKP was just short of a majority in parliament, and tried to either bring the CHP or MHP on board for a coalition, or to convince the MHP to let them rule as a minority government without objection by not opposing it. That too failed, and where the country is even headed now is unclear.

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Critics have suggested that Erdogan ordered the security operation with the aim of discrediting the HDP by linking it to the outlawed PKK in order to harm its chances in a vote.

Turkey's opposition National Movement Party has ruled out a coalition with or support for a minority government by the ruling AK Party