PM: Coalition ‘crisis’ could lead to early elections

THE coalition government is in “crisis” Prime Minister Ersan Saner admitted on Thursday, raising the prospects of a snap general election.

The PM made the admission amid claims of rising tensions between his National Unity Party (UBP) and the coalition’s junior partners the Democrat Party (DP) and the Rebirth Party (YDP). The coalition has been in power since December 2020, with the support of independent MPs.

Friction had been sparked by the recent resignation of DP MP Koral Çağman as Labour and Social Security Minister.

The post remains vacant, with DP leader and Tourism Minister Fikri Ataoğlu taking over responsibility for the ministry

until a successor can be found.

There are calls that the new minister should also be from the DP to honour the initial distribution of ministries between the parties.

The DP’s only other MP who could fill the post is Serdar Denktaş. The YDP has two MPs, one of whom is Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Energy Minister Erhan Arıklı. The other is Bertan Zaroğlu, but he is at loggerheads with his own party, whose executive committee have called on him to resign from the YDP.

Confirming the allegations that there is a crisis in the government, PM Saner spoke about his belief that the government will overcome this problem.

Speaking to BRT TV, Mr Saner stated that they established the UBP-DP-YDP government as a minority government and that “we are continuing our talks with the parties about the government”.

He continued: “We will get through this crisis soon. Our communication with both the DP and the YDP continues. We have made it this far by sticking to all written and verbal agreements that were reached when establishing the government. It will be like that from now on.”

After Mr Çağman’s resignation, Mr Saner stated that he met with Mr Ataoğlu and Mr Denktaş and “sent DP a message” by repeating his promise to “stick to written and verbal agreements”.

“As the head of government, I do not interfere in the internal affairs of the coalition parties,” he said.

“I respect them. Friends in the Democrat Party must make a decision themselves. The Government protocol is clear: if no decision is made, then I will make a call.”

He said that according to the Constitution, a replacement for Mr Çağman must be made within 10 days after he formally resigned. Mr Saner stated that he would “intervene if the time period expires”.

During the interview the PM also answered questions about early elections. Expressing that the UBP has “never and will never run away from early elections”, Mr Saner emphasised that the UBP is the party “most ready” for early elections.

“If the conditions in the country force us to hold early elections, we would never take this lightly,” he said.

“This topic has been discussed twice in our group as well. We envisage the election being on April 3 [2022]. If we are forced to, we can hold early elections.

“No-one would have expected us to hold an election during this time without getting the economy into better shape.”