ANKARA: Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday announced he would step down in two weeks as ruling party chief and premier, in a shock exit set to further boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Divisions between Mr Davutoglu and Mr Erdogan that had been rumoured for months burst into the open on Wednesday, with the two leaders holding crisis talks at the presidential palace that failed to resolve the conflict.

Mr Davutoglu said after a mee­ting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that the party would hold an extraordinary congress on May 22 and he would not be standing for a new mandate. This means that the premier — who headed the government since 2014 when Mr Erdogan moved from the premiership to the presidency — will step aside from his twin jobs of AKP boss and prime minister and the congress will choose a new leader.

According to the conventions of the AKP — a party co-founded by Mr Erdogan to bring Islam into the mainstream of Turkey’s secular politics — the party chairman and head of government are the same person.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016