AKP to nominate presidential candidate in early July

The AKP will announce its candidate for the Turkish presidency on 1 July, amid wide expectations that the current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be standing.

"We are holding final consultations and we will, God willing, announce our candidate on 1 July," Erdogan told a meeting of lawmakers from his AKP ruling faction in the parliament on Tuesday.

"Afterwards, we will hit the roads to seek support from our nation," he added.

Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey's political scene for 11 years, is widely believed to be planning to run for the presidency in the 10 August elections.

Turkish voters will, for the first time, be directly electing the head of state. Previously, the president had been elected by parliament.

Erdogan has been accused of increasing authoritarianism for his tough response to a series of crises over the past year, from mass street protests to a high-level corruption allegation and a deadly mining tragedy.

But Turkey's strongman premier remains the most popular leader in the country among ordinary Turks and appears to have set his sights on becoming a "people's president".

The secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have agreed to put forward Ekme al-Deen Ihsanoglu, former head of head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to stand against the prime minister in the elections.

The August vote will be the first time in Turkey’s history that a president will be directly elected by the public, which Erdogan has said will give more legitimacy to the role and allowed for more power to be exercised.

"We propose a name that everyone can agree on and who can serve as a model of dignity, honesty and knowledge," CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said in a joint statement with his CHP counterpart, Devlet Bahceli, who called the proposal "good for our nation."

“The MHP is also wishing to unite behind this name and to conclude the presidential election without it turning into a crisis,” the pair said in a joint statement. “Under today’s circumstances, we will be working on this name together.”

The 70-year-old Ihsanoglu was born in Cairo to Turkish parents and is a published author, having written numerous books on Islam and Turkish culture.

“It is a great kindness to be part of the focal point of this reconciliation,” said Ihsanoglu in a written statement.

“Undoubtedly, there are many other highly qualified people who deserve this post. I welcome the joint decision of the CHP and the MHP with respect and gratitude,” Ihsanoglu added.

“This conciliation that the nation is in need of and which is persistently demanded, is no doubt an important step to ensure peace and the stability in our country,” he said.

The CHP was the political party of modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and followers of its secular, nationalist ideology are often referred to as Kemalists.

Eyebrows may be raised at the CHP’s collaboration with the MHP, an ultra-nationalist far-right party, whose unofficial paramilitary youth wing the Grey Wolves were responsible for countless deaths during the political violence that rocked Turkey in the late 1970’s.