ANKARA
Early elections should not be proposed as the only solution, Turkey's Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said Thursday following the conclusion of fruitless AK Party-CHP coalition talks.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's Justice and Development (AK) Party had been seeking a coalition partner after no party won a simple majority in the June 7 general election, but announced earlier on Thursday that no agreement to form a coalition government had been found with the CHP leader.
"I don't think it is right to say right away that early elections are the only alternative," the CHP leader told reporters, referring to Davutoglu's earlier remarks that there was a "strong possibility" for such elections to take place.
Kilicdaroglu said that Turkey missed a "historic opportunity" of "trying out" a coalition government in line with the national will.
"If votes have been divided between political parties in such a way that no party garnered enough votes to single-handedly come to power, then respect for the national will requires the formation of a coalition government," he said.
"If you say that you cannot do it and will go to elections instead, then how can you talk about [respecting] the national will? This [a coalition] should have been tried out. I think Turkey missed a historic opportunity," Kilicdaroglu said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked Davutoglu to form a new government on July 9, and negotiations between the AK Party and the second-placed CHP had been going on since July 13.
When the deadline to form a government expires on Aug. 23, either President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or the parliament may decide to hold a new election. If the president issues the decision, then polling is supposed to be held the first Sunday following a 90-day period starting from the end of the first deadline.
In the current set of circumstances, this scenario suggests renewed polling in November.
However, if the parliament makes the decision for a new election, then the Supreme Election Board can cut this 90-day period by as much as half.
The last coalition talks in Turkey were made 16 years ago, when the Democratic Left Party (DSP) of late premier Bulent Ecevit failed to win the majority in the general election on April 18, 1999.
