Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday announced that he is to stand down, giving the country’s increasingly authoritarian president free reign to appoint someone less likely to challenge him — a development that could have implications for Turkey’s internal conflicts and external relations.
Davutoglu’s announcement that he will step down on May 22 came amid increasing turbulence at home: a resurgent conflict with Kurdish militants, six major suicide attacks in less than a year and an increasingly shaky economy.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was already Turkey’s dominant figure, but Davutoglu’s resignation effectively deprives the country of a moderating influence.
The shake-up is widely seen as the result of irreconcilable differences between Erdogan, who would like to see the country transition to a presidential system, and his once-trusted aide, who declined a backseat role.
The bookish Davutoglu, a former foreign minister whom Erdogan picked to replace him as prime minister when he won the presidency in 2014, offered Europe and the US an easier and more diplomatic partner.
However, allies knew well that there were clear limits to his power.
Retired US ambassador W. Robert Pearson, who was posted in Turkey from 2000 to 2003, said he does not expect a “radical change” in US-Turkey relations because “Mr Davutoglu clearly followed Mr Erdogan’s lead in foreign affairs and this split is over domestic affairs.”
However, there is a risk that the political upheaval will add a “new element of confusion” to the relationship, he said — and there is a “greater risk” now that Turkey will focus more on action against the Kurds and less on action against the IS.
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