Davutoglu likely to be new Turkish PM, says President Gul

ANKARA 

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is likely to replace president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister, outgoing President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday.

"As far as it seems, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will take over [as prime minister]. I am the one who introduced him into politics and bureaucracy," he told reporters during a farewell reception in honor of him in the capital, Ankara.

Gul said that the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party extraordinary congress will convene on August 27 to choose a new party chairman to assume the prime minister's office, one day before Erdogan's presidential oath-taking ceremony.

AK Party has to select a successor for the premiership following the election of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as president on August 10.

Appointed as the top diplomat of Erdogan's cabinet in May 2009, Davutoglu had also served as Gul's foreign policy advisor both during his ministerial and presidential terms.

Gul said he had no plans to stay in the capital but would move and settle in Istanbul and would then act like other former presidents.

The outgoing president also repeated his previous remarks in which he said he would continue to serve for his cause and the party he had founded.

According to results from August 10 presidential election, Erdogan got 51.79 percent of the vote and was elected to a five-year term as president. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the joint candidate of the two opposition parties, received 38.44 percent of the votes while Selahattin Demirtas, candidate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, won 9.76 percent.

The election victory consolidates Erdogan's hold on power after an 11-year tenure as prime minister. He is widely expected to attempt to reinforce the powers of the presidency, which runs for five years, turning it from a ceremonial role to a more hands-on position.

www.aa.com.tr/en