PM Davutoğlu sends out invitations to 11 opposition parliamentarians

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has invited 11 members of the opposition to join an interim power-sharing cabinet to lead the country to a snap election in November, sources in his office said on Wednesday.

The candidates, who include five members of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and three members each from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and People's Democratic Party (HDP), have until 6:00 pm local time on Thursday to accept or decline the seats, the sources said.

The CHP and MHP have both said they will not take part, while the HDP has said it is willing. Any seats not taken up by opposition parties will be given to independent candidates from outside parliament, according to the constitution.

Among the best-known names in the list of opposition candidates for the 26-member cabinet was Deniz Baykal, parliament's oldest deputy, who headed the CHP until 2010 and was deputy prime minister and foreign minister in the 1990s. Baykal said, "I will act in accordance with the party ethics. I will give a comprehensive answer."

Erdoğan Toprak and İlhan Kesici from Istanbul, Ayşe Gülsün Bilgehan and Tekin Bingöl from Ankara are other CHP figures offered ministerial seats in the cabinet.

In a written statement, Bilgehan announced on Wednesday that she has not accepted the seat offered in the cabinet in accordance with "CHP's principles and current political conditions." CHP chairman advisor Erdoğan Toprak also announced that he will decline the seat. He told daily Hürriyet, "I rest on my party's principles. I will abide with the decision my party has taken."

MHP vice chairman and İzmir deputy, Kenan Tanrıkulu, resigned from his position at his party following Davutoğlu's invitation. Tanrıkulu said, he declined the seat in the cabinet and has resigned from his party as vice chairman as of Wednesday, as a reaction to such an "insolent" invitation.

Another nominee from the MHP, Tuğrul Türkeş, son of the party's founder, has accepted Davutoğlu's invitation and will partake in the cabinet. Upon Türkeş's acceptance of the offer, MHP Vice Chairman Semih Yalçın made a statement later in the day saying that Türkeş had to resign or otherwise he would be expelled from the party.

Another nominee from the MHP included Meral Aksener, a former interior minister who fell out with party leader Devlet Bahçeli and lost her role as deputy speaker to another MP in the party. Along with Tanrıkulu, Aksener announced that she declined a seat in the cabinet.

As for the HDP, Levent Tüzel from Istanbul, Müslüm Doğan from İzmir and Ali Haydar Konca from Kocaeli are the three figures that Davutoğlu invited to join the caretaker government. Talking on a private channel on Wednesday, Müslüm Doğan said, "We will take the decision of our party as a basis. To participate in an election cabinet [or not], is a decision our party is to make."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Tuesday officially gave Davutoğlu the mandate to form a caretaker government a day after calling for early elections. Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Chairman Davutoğlu's efforts to form a coalition government after the June 7 parliamentary elections came to naught after the rejections by the CHP and MHP.

On Monday, at the end of the 45-day period allowed to form a coalition, Erdoğan called for early elections, which the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on Tuesday announced would be held on Nov. 1. Davutoğlu now has five days to form a caretaker government.