Turkey ‘swiftly’ heading to snap polls — Erdogan

ANKARA — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey was heading rapidly towards snap polls after efforts to form a coalition government failed, creating an unprecedented situation in the country's modern history.

Erdogan spoke a day after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu informed the president he had failed to form a coalition government following talks with the opposition.

"We are once again swiftly heading towards an election," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara, adding that the only solution in the current political impasse was turning to the "will of the nation".

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority in the June 7 polls for the first time since it came to power in 2002, forcing it to seek a coalition partner. 

Under the constitution, the president should now be obliged to give a mandate to form a coalition government to the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which came second in the election. 

But Erdogan on Wednesday hinted that he would not do so, just days ahead of an August 23 deadline to form a new government. 

"I have no time to lose with those who do not know the address of Bestepe," where his controversial new presidential palace is located, he said.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu has refused to set foot in Erdogan's palace, which the opposition party has called "illegal".

Erdogan was due to meet with parliament speaker Ismet Yilmaz later on Wednesday. 

'Risky push' 

According to the constitution, the AKP will be able to continue as a minority government until elections if a majority in parliament votes in favour of early polls.

If however Erdogan uses his right to call the election himself, a so-called "election government" will be formed until the polls, consisting of members from all four parties represented in parliament.

The elections should be held 90 days after being called, meaning that November 22 would be a possibility were Erdogan to call the polls shortly after the August 23 deadline.

The CHP's spokesman Haluk Koc however said it was "out of the question" for the party to take part in a short-term election government. 

"The CHP expects to receive a mandate to form a coalition as required under normal democratic traditions," Koc told a news conference, adding that if not, it would mean "seizure of power”.

The third-placed Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), like the CHP, opposed involvement in an interim government, while the fourth-placed pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is warm to the idea.

Erdogan also dismissed the criticism that he blocked coalition talks. 

"Did you reach an agreement and shake hands to form a government and I hit your hand? I did not interfere," he said.

Analysts say early repeat elections — a scenario unprecedented in the country's modern history — are a risky move for the AKP.

"It is risky because the AKP might see a further vote loss," said Ziya Meral, London-based Turkey analyst and director of think tank the Centre on Religion and Global Affairs. 

"And even if it does not see a vote drop from June results, increasing HDP and MHP votes would mean less MPs," he told AFP. 

He said such a scenario would make it "impossible" for Erdogan to realise his dream of winning a large enough AKP majority for parliament to agree a new presidential system for Turkey. 

The political drama comes as the government wages an unprecedented "anti-terror" offensive against jihadists and Kurdish militants, although it vehemently denies the strikes were launched in the hope of giving the AKP a boost at the ballot box.

In the latest violence, eight Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on the PKK in the southeastern Siirt province, the army said. In some cities in Kurdish majority southeast curfew was declared after spiralling violence.

Erdogan said Turkey faced a problem of forming a new government at a time of "terror," accusing the PKK for working "to divide our country" despite AKP steps to improve Kurds' cultural and language rights.