PM Davutoğlu takes no risk before 2015 elections

August was a very meaningful month for Turkish politics this year. It brought about a new president, a new prime minister and a new Cabinet. Turkey’s new Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu formed the country’s 62nd government hours after he was given the mandate by the country’s new President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The composition of the new government explicitly proves that Davutoğlu is placing the idea of unity within his Justice and Development Party (AKP) as his top priority. As the new chairman of the AKP, Davutoğlu wanted to form a balanced government without minor changes from the previous one, however, with just one aim: To go to the 2015 elections with full power and without any in-house problems. He removed three names from the Cabinet and appointed four new names to his Cabinet, making clear that all his thoughts are already on the election campaign trail.

The most notable change in the Cabinet was the introduction of two new names as deputy prime ministers. To the contrary of forecasts, by keeping Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç in his seat, Davutoğlu intends to avoid the continuation of a conflict between youngsters and veterans in the party. Appointing Yalçın Akdoğan, one of Erdoğan’s closest advisors and a prominent frontrunner within the AKP’s younger generation who often quarreled with Arınç, as another deputy prime minister, will serve as a balancing act to this end.

However, Akdoğan’s role in the Cabinet will not be limited to this, but he will have a multifunctional service to the government as both the new master of the ongoing Kurdish resolution process and the coordinator between the presidency and Prime Ministry.

Numan Kurtulmuş...