Turkey’s Ruling Party Names Foreign Minister Davutoglu as New PM

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will take over as chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and thus become the next prime minister.

Davutoglu will succeed outgoing president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he assumes office next week.

Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey's political scene for 11 years as prime minister, announced Davutoglu's nomination on Thursday after a meeting of AKP’s executive committee convened to decide on his successor.

Davutoglu is known to be sharing many of Erdogan’s foreign and domestic policy aims. Tipped as a key Erdogan loyalist, he was appointed foreign minister in Erdogan's cabinet in May 2009.

Davutoglu, 55, had also served as foreign policy adviser to outgoing president Abdullah Gul.

Davutoglu's nomination is expected to be endorsed by AKP’s extraordinary congress on August 27 and he will assume office the following day.

According to AFP's coverage of the news, ""criticised as neo-Ottoman or even pan-Islamic by some academics, the core of Davutoglu's policy has been to make Turkey a world power projecting its influence across the region."

"But while Turkey's importance has unquestionably grown in the last years, critics say the policy has left Ankara isolated and surrounded by crisis-torn countries whose problems are spilling over the border," AFP added.