ANKARA
Turkey's President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan has nominated Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to be the country's prime minister and the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party, also known as AK Party.
Davutoglu's name has been determined by consensus reached after intense negotiations within the party, Erdogan said Thursday following a meeting of his party's highest decision-making body.
"Our nation's biggest expectations from the leader of the party and the new prime minister are to realize the ideal of New Turkey and to fulfil AK Party’s 2023 objectives," Erdogan said.
He called "the determination and commitment" of Davutoglu to battle the "parallel structure," a term used by Erdogan to describe an influential group allegedly nestled within key state institutions including the judiciary and the police, as an important factor for his nomination for the post.
The government is accusing the group -- publicly known as the "Gulenist" or "Service" (Hizmet) movement allegedly led by U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen -- of orchestrating politically-motivated operations to damage Turkey's reputation and progress.
The president-elect, Erdogan, said that the prime minister would be stronger if he would also be the leader of the party.
Davutoglu will replace Erdogan as the prime minister after being elected as the party chairman at AK Party's extraordinary congress due on August 27.
Erdogan said no feeling of resentment occurred within the party during the process of determining the nominee.
"Those who are expecting discord and dissociation in our party will once more be disappointed both during the period till the party congress and its afterwards," he said.
Addressing the party members following his nomination, Davutoglu pledged to continue what he called the "big restoration movement" that has been taking place during the last 12 years in Turkey.
Describing the party's cause as a "holy walk," he said: "Whomever wants to stop or interrupt this holy walk -- whether under the name of parallel structure or other names -- must know that the AK Party will stand in front of them like a rock."
Erdogan will be inaugurated as Turkey's 12th president on August 28, one day after the party congress. He is expected to designate the new PM on August 29.
According to the results of August 10 presidential election, outgoing PM Erdogan won by 51.79 percent of the vote while his rivals Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Selahattin Demirtas garnered 38.44 percent and 9.76 percent, respectively.
www.aa.com.tr/en
