After elections, Erdogan’s shadow still looms
Given his continuing hold over the AKP, negotiations for a coalition government could be stymied by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if developments take a turn he does not favor.
With the general elections over, Turkey's political agenda is dominated by speculation about the coalition government that has to be formed after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the parliamentary majority it held for 12 years.
This is the worst result President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could have expected, not only because his leadership plans seem shattered, but also because the AKP he led for over a decade as prime minister has lost its pre-eminent place in Turkish politics. His shadow nevertheless continues to hang over the political scene, making efforts to form a coalition more difficult than otherwise might have been the case.
The corruption allegations Erdogan had to face while he was still prime minister, the overly ostentatious palace he moved into shortly after being elected president in August 2014 and his vacillations regarding the Kurdish problem have come home to roost for the AKP.
Before the elections there was talk about a partnership between the AKP — if it lost its parliamentary majority — and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). The fact that the AKP government initiated the peace process, also referred to as the “Kurdish opening,” to settle Turkey's long festering Kurdish problem, fueled the speculation in this regard.
