Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 6
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey's oppositional Republican People's Party (CHP) put forward a number of conditions for creation of a coalition government Obviously, the longer there are negotiations on forming a coalition government in Turkey, the bigger concessions the opposition makes.
Under those conditions CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was to head the Turkish government for two years, while the MPs from the party were to be appointed the ministers of justice, education and internal affairs.
However, today the situation has changed.
Currently, CHP's demands are limited to two ministries: the ministries of foreign affairs and education.
Given the tense political situation in Turkey, it can be assumed that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will make concessions to CHP and accept a part of the opposition's conditions.
Turkey's education sector is a priority for the AKP, but not a key issue.
Thus, it is possible that the AKP will agree to surrender its positions in the ministry of education in order to form a coalition government.
At the same time, the Justice and Development Party will not give up its positions in the foreign ministry, especially against the background of placing the air base "Incirlik" at the disposal of the US to fight the "Islamic state."
The US and Turkey have already begun to conduct joint operations against ISIS militants from the "Incirlik" air force base. On Aug.5, a US drone, which took off from the Turkish air base, struck at targets in Syria. The fight against the "Islamic state" is of utmost importance for Turkey.
As part of the agreement reached between the Americans and the Turks giving the US military access to the very strategic air base at "Incirlik" it was also agreed that Ankara would actually control the Syrian territory from the western shore of the Euphrates River and to Latakia. This area includes such strategically important cities as Aleppo and Idlib.
Turkish authorities have neither confirmed nor denied this information.
Naturally, such progress of events are in Ankara's interest and this means that the large-scale military operations against the "Islamic State" will begin namely in these territories. Turkey credits all these accomplishments to it Foreign Ministry and therefore unlikely that the Justice and Development Party will give up its position in the foreign ministry.
But even if the Justice and Development Party and the Republican People's Party form a coalition government, it is unlikely to survive very long. Therefore, the possibility of early parliamentary elections for October 2015 is not to be ruled out.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
