Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL

Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Turkish dailies on Friday covered possible coalition scenarios between the four main political parties after the country's June 7 general election.

Parties with representation in parliament are the Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

HURRIYET reported that CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called on MHP leader Devlet Bahceli to form a coalition, offering Bahceli the premiership.

Kilicdaroglu was asked how it could be possible to get the support of pro-Kurdish HDP in such a case, a reference to tension between HDP and MHP over the country's ‘solution process’ -- a deal-breaker for the MHP who wants to reverse the talks initiated by AK Party to end the decades-old Kurdish conflict.

"Politics is the art of finding solutions," the paper quoted Kilicdaroglu as saying.

Any coalition scenario excluding the first-placed AK Party has to be a three-party arrangement to have a majority in parliament, or a two-party coalition with tacit support from a third party.

CUMHURIYET quoted HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtas who said they would support a CHP-AK Party coalition if the two "pay attention to HDP principles".

VATAN covered the news saying it was a "surprising offer from the HDP". The paper also said that Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, would negotiate with the HDP about a coalition, and that he criticized the "red lines" drawn by the political parties.

"This is how chaos starts. Those with red lines are showing their reluctance [to find a solution]," the paper quoted Davutoglu as saying.

YENI SAFAK covered remarks by Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci who said Turkey’s leading business associations' meeting with the political parties over the coalition formulas was encouraging.

However, Zeybekci said the initiative should not turn into pressure for an immediate government: "Early election is another alternative. It would be wrong to say that the Turkish economy will be damaged if the country goes for an early election."

Several papers also covered news that Turkey's Supreme Election Board announced the final, official results of the June 7 election on Thursday.

According to the official results, the AK Party leads with 258 MPs elected to the Turkish parliament. The CHP has 132 seats, followed by the MHP and HDP each with 80.

MILLIYET said the Turkish parliament would have its first plenary session on June 23 during which the oath-taking ceremony for the newly elected members would take place.

In other news, HURRIYET covered the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres' speech in Istanbul. Guterres spoke about the thousands of desperate civilians seeking shelter and safety in Turkey's southern provinces.

"Turkey shelters the largest number of refugees in the world but gets very little support from other countries," the paper quoted Guterres as saying.

“We estimate more than two million refugees are in Turkey today. Turkey very generously opened its borders to such a large number of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans,” he said.

STAR claims Arab and Turkmen Syrians were forced to leave their homes in Tal Abyad by the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) which captured the city from Daesh rebels.

Thousands of Syrian civilians had made their way to Turkey through Sanliurfa's Akcakale border because of fighting between the PYD and Daesh around the Syrian city which borders Turkey.

PYD now allows the return of only Kurds, the paper said, reporting that all the others who want to return home were stopped at the border. It is a project to change the demographic structure of the region, the paper claimed.

Turkey considers the PYD to be an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has for decades waged a bloody insurgency in the country.

In economic news, SABAH reported that Russia's Sberbank agreed to lend funds for Istanbul's new international airport:

"The bank, giving a message of confidence, has signed a memorandum for a fund of 500 million euros ($570 million) for the construction of Istanbul's third airport – with an expected world-record annual capacity of 150 million passengers.”