Fatih Şahin, a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who is also representing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a lawyer, accused Ahmet Davutoğlu of malpractice during his tenure as the prime minister, the Sözcü daily reported on Sunday.
Davutoğlu recently resigned from his post as the prime minister due to pressure from Erdoğan, despite the Constitution’s ban on president to have links with political parties. The president accepted Davutoğlu’s resignation on Sunday, a few hours after the AK party congress was held and resulted in the election of former minister Binali Yıldırım as the new party leader and therefore the premier. Erdoğan mandated Yıldırım to form the new government later on the same day.
According to Sözcü, Şahin told that Yıldırım will be handed the powers that were earlier stripped off of Davutoğlu in the first upcoming central executive board meeting of the AK Party. The powers that were removed from the party leadership during Davutoğlu’s tenure had sparked controversy earlier and widely considered a warning sign by Erdoğan, who still maintains his power on his former party. The removed powers enabled the party leader to assign and discharge provincial and district branch leaders. Şahin commented that the removal of power stemmed from Davutoğlu’s malpractice.
The Turkish Constitution states that an individual must cut off its relations with all political parties the moment they are elected president. The presidency is a symbolic post and the individual holding the post must remain at an equal distance from all the political parties.