Roundup: Turkey to go for early elections as coalition talks collapse

The talks between Turkey's leading political parties on the formation of grand coalition government failed on Thursday, increasing the likelihood of holding early elections in November.

"We have concluded that there is no base for forming a coalition and entering into a government partnership," Ahmet Davutoglu, the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Prime Minister designate, told reporters in the AKP Headquarters in Ankara.

He attributed the failure to what he called "very deep differences of opinions" with the main opposition party especially in education and foreign policy.

Davutoglu underlined that early elections are now the only possibility, saying that his preference is for the parliament to vote for an early election.

His remarks came after the final round of talks fails regarding forming a coalition government in Ankara with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the chairman of the second largest party Republican People's Party (CHP).

The CHP leader offered a different perspective on why the talks have collapsed on Thursday, saying that a real and long-term coalition offer was never presented by Davutoglu.

He emphasized that the country needed a powerful and long-term coalition to tackle significant economic and terrorism challenges, yet the historic opportunity was missed with the collapse of talks.

Most blame President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former leader of the AKP who is still a powerful figure within the party, for the failure of talks because they say the president is opposed to the coalition from the start.

"Everybody knows what is going on. This is the game played by the palace," Ankara-based political analyst Mustafa Unal said.

He pointed out that the AKP has never been sincere in coalition talks but used tactical moves to prolong negotiations.

Can Dundar, another analyst, also believed Erdogan's wishes have prevailed in the coalition talks.

"The palace got what he wanted," he commented, saying that the AKP had prepared itself for early elections while negotiating for seemingly building a coalition government with the CHP.

The early June 7 national elections stripped the AKP of the ruling majority in the parliament, forcing political parties to seek the coalition talks, analysts said.

On Wednesday, the president repeated once again that he favors a snap election.

He hopes that the AKP, a political party he led for 13 years before becoming a president, will regain its strength to form a single party government in the early elections.

The AKP received almost 40.87 percent of the vote in the last election.

Recent surveys suggest some two percent increase in the popular support for the AKP amid Turkish military's offensive against the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) that is listed as terrorist organization by Turkey.

However, the slight increase may not be enough to secure 276 required majority to form a single party government.

According to the constitution, Turkish president can call an early election if a government is not formed within 45 days, which will expire on Aug. 23.

The president announced on Tuesday that he would not extend the 45-day limit, signaling that he will call for an early election by disbanding the parliament. Endit