Turkish Pm Says President To Give Mandate Today

- Incumbent Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said President Tayyip Erdoğan will likely give him the mandate to form a new government on Thursday, while also dismissing claims that Erdoğan deliberately delayed the process.

“The president will probably commission me to form the government” Davutoğlu told a meeting of his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) parliamentary group.

“The AK Parti is not responsible for the delay in forming [the parliament speaker’s] bureau” he said, referring to a procedure that needed to be completed so that Erdoğan would give the mandate.

“Our president is not responsible for the delay either. He hasn’t deliberately exerted an effort to push it back” Davutoğlu said.

Later during the group meeting, the AKP was to designate their candidates for the bureau and report their names to parliament. As of July 8, the other three parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) had reported the names of their candidates to parliament.

The bureau will be officially formed after the names of the members are read out at a plenary session, expectedly at an afternoon session later on July 9 before Erdoğan hosts Davutoğlu at a “State Day” meeting regularly held every Thursday.

Erdoğan is expected to give the mandate during the meeting.