President Erdoğan asks Davutoğlu to form new government
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), founded by Erdoğan, secured a dramatic gain that few had predicted in the parliamentary election, regaining a majority that it lost in the previous election in June. The Nov. 1 election was a re-run called by Erdoğan after Davutoğlu failed to form a coalition partnership with any of the three opposition parties in Parliament.
The new election was held amid renewed violence in Turkey, and Erdoğan and Davutoğlu argued that only a single-party majority could restore stability. The renewed fighting between Turkey's security forces and the terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has left hundreds of people dead and shattered an already-fragile peace process.
Turkey also suffered two massive suicide bombings at pro-Kurdish gatherings that killed some 130 people, apparently carried out by the radical terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
Davutoğlu was expected to present a Cabinet list for Erdoğan's approval either on Thursday or Friday.
Earlier on Tuesday, newly elected lawmakers were sworn into office during a ceremony at Parliament's first session since the election.
The oath taken by prominent Kurdish lawmaker Leyla Zana, however, was declared invalid, after she failed to keep to the wording and swore allegiance "before the great nation of Turkey" instead of the "Turkish nation" -- avoiding a term many Kurds object to.
Zana also began her oath by turning toward Erdoğan and expressing -- in Kurdish -- her wish "for an honorable and lasting peace" between Turks and Kurds.
It was not clear if she would retake the oath. Officials said she would not be able to participate in Parliament until she is formally sworn in.
Zana had caused a storm during a similar oath-taking ceremony in 1991, when she spoke Kurdish in Parliament, defying a ban on using the language in official settings. She later spent 10 years in prison for alleged links to the PKK.
New Cabinet to be determined by Erdoğan
With the end of the oath-taking ceremonies for all the lawmakers, the preparations for the establishment of the new Cabinet have accelerated. Veteran political experts argue that the new Cabinet will be completely shaped by Erdoğan.
Speaking to Today's Zaman regarding the issue, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, a co-founder of the AK Party, said the new Cabinet will belong to Erdoğan, not Prime Minister Davutoğlu.
"Erdoğan already determined the names to be included in the new Cabinet. I do not have any doubt that he [Erdoğan] will give the management of the economy to Erdoğan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak and his adviser Yiğit Bulut. Considering that Ali Babacan [who was deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs] did not go to Antalya to attend the G-20 Summit, I don't believe that he will be appointed as a minister [in the new Cabinet]," Fırat said.
Fırat also said he does not believe Davutoğlu will be given the chance to determine the new ministers except for several ministers, only for show. He also claimed that Erdoğan will also establish a shadow Cabinet although it was him who determined the whole new Cabinet, adding that the only desire of Erdoğan is to establish an executive presidential system in Turkey, which is why he plans to pave the way for it by establishing the shadow Cabinet.
Fırat said he believes that former Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Binali Yıldırım will be appointed to the same ministry again. Former Interior Minister Efkan Ala will again be the interior minister in the new Cabinet, according to Fırat, further claiming that former Minister Bekir Bozdağ or former Prime Ministry Undersecretary Fatih Kasırga will be appointed as the new justice minister.