Erdoğan 'plans to halt dissolution in AKP base

Duvar English

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning to stop dissolution in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) via targeting former AKP officials, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's team has said, as the establishment of two new parties nears.

Erdoğan on Dec. 7 slammed both Davutoğlu and former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who are separately working on founding new political parties, over allegations of fraud in a private university.

In his speech, Erdoğan commented on the ongoing problems between Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank and private Şehir University, of which Davutoğlu was among the founders, regarding the university’s land.

Halkbank took the university to court due to its inability to pay the loans it received back, prompting authorities to freeze the assets of Şehir University.

"The allocation of Şehir University was done by me during my prime ministry. This person [Davutoğlu] then turned the allocation to a transfer of ownership when he became prime minister. They are trying to defraud Halkbank. They request a loan from the bank. The bank gives them a significant amount, but they fail to pay back," Erdoğan said.

Following the President's remarks, Davutoğlu's team said that Erdoğan wants to raise questions about the new parties in order to prevent his party base from dissolving further, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Dec. 9.

While former minister and current AKP member İdris Güllüce was also involved in the transfer of ownership of the land, Erdoğan refrained from naming him in his speech due to Güllüce still being a member of the ruling party, former prime minister's team also said.

"Would he point to irregularities if these names [Babacan, Davutoğlu] didn't attempt to found new parties or would he stay silent? If there are irregularities, why did he bring them up 4,5 years after they happened?" Davutoğlu's team told the daily.

"The aim here is to raise question marks in people's heads regarding the new parties to prevent their interest, to stop the dissolution in his base and to remain in power via trying all methods," they added.

Saying that Erdoğan wants to draw both Babacan and Davutoğlu into a war of words to wear them out, Davutoğlu's team noted that Erdoğan knew about the transfer of ownership at the time.

"Nothing happens without his [Erdoğan's] knowledge. So why didn't he object to it when this process took place? If these people are not honest, then why did they continue to work together?" they said.