Ahmet Davutoğlu
Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...
from 28 August to 17 November 2015. He was formerly the leader of the
Great Union Party
The Great Unity Party (, BBP) is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey. It was created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern ...
Ardahan
Ardahan ( ka, არტაანი, tr; ; Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District.Turkish Meskhetian origin.
Bureaucratic career
Topçu was a public sector worker before becoming a founding member of the
Great Union Party
The Great Unity Party (, BBP) is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey. It was created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern ...
in 1993. In 1996, he returned to his position in the civil service and worked in the Press and Public Relations Undersecretariat to the Prime Ministry of Turkey for 11 years. In 2007, he retired from the civil service while serving as an assistant manager for business.
Political career
While serving as the district President of the Nationalist Labour Party (MÇP) branch in Mamak, Ankara, Topçu joined 6 MÇP Members of Parliament and resigned from the party on 7 July 2007. He subsequently became a founding member of the
Great Union Party
The Great Unity Party (, BBP) is a far-right Sunni Islamist and ultranationalist political party in Turkey. It was created on 29 January 1993 by Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, who broke off from the Nationalist Task Party (predecessor of the modern ...
(BBP). He later returned to his career in the civil service in 1996. In 2007, he was invited by BBP leader
Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu
Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu (December 31, 1954 – March 25, 2009) was a Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey. He was the leader and founder of the Great Unity Party (BBP), a far-right, nationalist-Islamist political party.
...
to become the General Secretary of the party, a position to which he was elected in the BBP's 3rd congress in 2007.
After the death of Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu in 2009, Topçu was elected leader of the BBP in the party's 4th congress. He resigned after a defeat in the 2011 general election. In a statement he released on his party's website, Topçu stated that he bore the blame for the party's failure and that there is no word to be said after the people of a democracy had spoken. On 3 February 2014, he resigned from the BBP altogether.
hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
, unsuccessful coalition negotiations raised speculation over whether President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
would call an early election in the event that AKP leader
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...
was unable to form a government within the given constitutional time of 45 days. As required by the 114th article of the
Constitution of Turkey
The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...
, the calling of a snap general election by the President necessitates the forming of an interim election government, in which all parties represented in Parliament are given a certain number of ministers according to how many MPs they have. If a party refused to send ministers to the interim cabinet, then independents must take their place. As an independent politician, Topçu was appointed as the Minister of Culture and Tourism by Davutoğlu on 28 August 2015, a move which came as a general surprise to many political observers and commentators.
See also
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Felicity Party
The Felicity Party (, SAADET) is an Islamism, Islamist Turkey, Turkish political party. It was founded in 2001, and mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey.
It was founded on 20 July 2001 after the Virtue Party (Turkey), Virtue Party ...
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Turkish nationalism
Turkish nationalism () is nationalism among the people of Turkey and individuals whose national identity is Turkish. Turkish nationalism consists of political and social movements and sentiments prompted by a love for Turkish culture, Turkish ...