Turkey President Erdogan orders interim government to lead country to elections

Prime Minister Davutoglu to head caretaker

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form a temporary government with the purpose of leading the country to parliamentary elections. The move was expected, as attempts to form a coalition government from the existing political parties in the Turkish national Assembly for the past two months had come to an impasse. Both Erdogan and Davutoglu are members of the conservative Islamic party ‘Justice and Development’. Turkey is facing domestic turmoil as it is entangled in an escalating military conflict with its large Kurdish population in the east of the country, while it is also involved in a joint-air strike operation against ISIS militants in Syria. Erdogan has come under harsh criticism for allegedly using the air-strikes against ISIS as a pretext to target Communist PKK Kurdish fighters it considers terrorists.   Furthermore, Turkey’s critics say Erdogan is turning a blind eye to ISIS and facilitating its terrorists on the borders.