Wikipedia (en)
Ahmet Davutoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [ahˈmet daˈvutoːɫu]; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who is the Prime Minister of Turkey since 28 August 2014 and the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 27 August 2014. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as chief advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from 2003 to 2009. He was elected as an AKP Member of Parliament for Konya in the 2011 general election and was re-elected as an MP in both the June and November 2015 general elections. He resigned as AKP leader and Prime Minister on 5 May 2016.
Following the election of serving Prime Minister and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 12th President of Turkey, Davutoğlu was announced by the AKP Central Executive Committee as a candidate for the party leadership. He was unanimously elected as leader unopposed during the first AKP extraordinary congress and consequently succeed Erdoğan as prime minister, forming the 62nd Government of the Turkish Republic. His cabinet has been dominated by Erdoğan's close allies such as Yalçın Akdoğan, leading to speculation that he will take a docile approach as prime minister while Erdoğan continues to pursue his political agenda as president. in the June 2015 general election, the AKP lost its parliamentary majority in Parliament though remained as the largest party. Davutoğlu's government subsequently resigned but stayed in power until a new government could be formed. After presiding over a series of unsuccessful coalition negotiations with opposition parties, Davutoğlu was tasked with forming Turkey's first-ever interim election government, which presided over snap elections scheduled for November 2015. The AKP regained its parliamentary majority in November after a landslide victory, with Davutoğlu subsequently forming his third government.
Following a deterioration in relations between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan over disagreements regarding parliamentary candidate lists, government policy and the implementation of an executive presidential system of government, Davutoğlu announced his resignation as AKP leader and Prime Minister seven months after his November 2015 general election victory. He announced that an Extraordinary party Congress would be held on 22 May 2016 and that he would not stand for re-election for the party leadership.
As Prime Minister, Davutoğlu's administration has overseen an escalation of conflict between the government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after a two-year ceasefire broke down in mid 2015. His government originally authorised airstrikes against both PKK and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions on 20 July after a suicide bombing killed 32 people in the south-eastern town of Suruç. The government's offensive against ISIL came after sustained criticism by allies such as the United States over Turkey's lack of action against the group, though the political opposition accused Davutoğlu of sparking the conflict deliberately to win back votes and regain a parliamentary majority in the November 2015 snap election. His government has also presided over the ongoing political conflict with the Gülen Movement, the spillover effects of the Syrian Civil War across the border with Turkey as well as the European migrant crisis that emerged as a result. Although his foreign policy outlook has been described as Neo-Ottoman or Pan-Islamist, Davutoğlu has made Turkey's ascension bid to the European Union a strategic target for his government. He has been criticised for failing to tackle political corruption and for growing government authoritarianism, with a new national security bill in early 2015 causing opposition commentators to accuse his government of turning Turkey into a police state.