Is Erdoğan framing Davutoğlu as the next prime minister?

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are seemingly confident that the Erdoğan will be elected as the 12th president of Turkey in the first round of elections on Aug. 10. Erdoğan has said he is expecting 54 to 56 percent of the votes, in line with the results of some public opinion polls.

He even bid farewell to his parliamentary group on July 22, underlining that it would be his last group meeting if he is elected president in the coming weeks.

Along with his addresses to his parliamentary group and to the people through frequent public rallies, he has also intensified his media campaign through interviews with pro-government journalists. As journalists are also convinced that Erdoğan is already the winner of the elections, their questions focus more on who will be the next prime minister and on what grounds the elected president and the elected prime minister will cooperate.

The first message that Erdoğan has conveyed through these interviews is that President Abdullah Gül will have to wait at least 10 months if he has a will to return to active politics, and thus to the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He clearly underlined that the most important thing is to pass through what he calls the “interim period” and to take the government to the parliamentary elections to be held in June 2015. Erdoğan made clear once again that he has no intention of seeing his old friend, Abdullah Gül, either as the head of the AKP or as the head of the government. Now the ball is in Gül’s court and we’ll all see whether he will surprise the political climate through an unexpected move.

Erdoğan is tight-lipped on who is in his mind as the next prime...