(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkey's Justice and Development (AK) Party leader and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has voiced their intention not to take part in a coalition government.
His remarks came after he met MHP leader Devlet Bahceli Tuesday afternoon amid coalition discussions, more than a month after a general election failed to produce a governing majority.
"[Bahceli] spoke to reiterate his stance of staying out of a coalition partnership," he told a press conference at the AK Party headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Davutoglu further stated that he agreed with Bahceli to reconvene for a possible second meeting after Eid al-Fitr - post-Ramadan celebrations - if needed as part of the ongoing coalition talks.
As part of the first round of coalition talks, the Turkish premier held his first meeting with Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Monday in order to attempt to form a new government.
Davutoglu said the meeting was to build "correct understanding".
"It was an initial meeting that saw a declaration of will and intention to work with a strong government profile towards a resolution for Turkey's pending domestic and foreign problems," CHP party spokesman and deputy chairman Haluk Koc said after the meeting.
Davutoglu is scheduled to meet the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, on Wednesday.
"The second round of meetings will be held in accordance with the atmosphere following Eid al-Fitr," Davutoglu said on July 9, referring to the post-Ramadan celebrations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked Davutoglu to form a new government on July 9.
Davutoglu now has 40 days left to form a government around the AK Party, which gained the largest share of parliamentary seats (258) in the June 7 general election.
Although the party came in first, it did not win enough seats (276 seats) to form a majority government, so it must attempt to forge a coalition with one of three other parliamentary parties - the second place CHP (132 seats), the MHP (80 seats) or the pro-Kurdish HDP (80 seats) . Either the left-leaning CHP or the nationalist MHP are likely to be Davutoglu's preferred partners.
If he is unable to form a coalition, tradition dictates the president should offer the second place party the chance to create an administration within another 45-day period. Should this also fail to provide Turkey with a governing coalition, the president must call a fresh election and appoint a prime minister within five days to form an interim government consisting of representatives from all four parties.
The new election would likely be held around the end of November.
The previous coalition talks in Turkey were made 16 years ago, when the Democratic Left Party (DSP) of the late premier Bulent Ecevit failed to win the majority at the general election on April 18, 1999.
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