Ahmet Davutoğlu

Ahmet Davutoğlu (born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016.

He was unanimously elected as leader during the first AKP extraordinary congress and consequently succeeded Erdoğan as prime minister, forming the 62nd Government of the Turkish Republic.

His cabinet was dominated by Erdoğan's close allies such as Yalçın Akdoğan; this led to speculation that he would take a docile approach as prime minister while Erdoğan continued to pursue his own political agenda as president.

Since 1984 he has been married to Sare Davutoğlu, who is a gynecologist working in Istanbul and a vocal anti-abortion campaigner.

They have one son and three daughters.

His publications include Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory, The Civilizational Transformation and The Muslim World in English, Stratejik Derinlik (Strategic Depth), and Küresel Bunalım (The Global Crisis) in Turkish.

Between 1993 and 1996 Davutoğlu taught political sciences at International Islamic University Malaysia.

Between 1995 and 1999 he wrote weekly columns for Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Şafak.

From 1996 to 1999 he worked at Marmara University and became a full professor in 1999.

He was the chairman of the Department of International Relations at Beykent University in Istanbul.

He was very influential in the military, academic, and government triangle shaping Turkish foreign policy in the 2000s.

In addition to his native Turkish, he also speaks German, English, Arabic and Malay.

Davutoğlu became Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's chief foreign policy advisor after the latter became prime minister, developing the Justice and Development Party's new foreign policy outlook that would bring Turkey to play a larger role in the Middle East.

Davutoğlu was granted the title of ambassador in 2003 by the joint decision of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Abdullah Gül.

His position as chief advisor coincided with the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with Davutoğlu co-ordinating Turkish responses to ongoing military efforts in Turkey's neighbouring country.

In 2007, he stated that Turkey was against the United States troops entering northern Iraq, with his opposition originating from the Kurdish separatist movements in that area.

From his articles for Yeni Şafak and book Stratejik Derinlik, academics and politicians have put forward the view that Davutoğlu's foreign policy vision rests on rebuilding and maintaining closer relations with former territories of the Ottoman Empire through a policy known as Neo-Ottomanism.

He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2014 and chief advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from 2003 to 2009.

His book Strategic Depth is a very influential book in Turkey's foreign policy orientation, even becoming a bestseller in Greece in July 2010.

He was elected as an AKP Member of Parliament for Konya in the 2011 general election and was reelected as an MP in both the June and November 2015 general elections.

Following the election of serving Prime Minister and AKP Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the 12th President of Turkey, Davutoğlu was announced by the AKP Central Executive Committee as a candidate for the party leadership.

The AKP lost its parliamentary majority in the June 2015 general election, though it remained the largest party.

Davutoğlu's government subsequently resigned but stayed in power until a new government could be formed.

After undertaking a series of unsuccessful coalition negotiations with opposition parties, Davutoğlu was tasked with forming Turkey's first-ever interim election government, which presided over snap elections scheduled for November 2015.

The AKP regained its parliamentary majority in November after a landslide victory, with Davutoğlu subsequently forming his third government.

Following a deterioration in relations between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan over their disagreements regarding parliamentary candidate lists, government policy and the implementation of an executive presidential system of government, Davutoğlu announced his resignation as AKP leader and Prime Minister seven months after his November 2015 general election victory.

Davutoğlu's administration oversaw an escalation of conflict between the government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after a two-year ceasefire broke down in mid-2015, with his premiership being described as the 'bloodiest' in Turkey's history.

His government originally authorised airstrikes against both PKK and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) positions on 20 July after a suicide bombing killed 32 people in the southeastern town of Suruç.

The government's offensive against ISIL suffered sustained criticism by allies such as the United States over Turkey's lack of action against the group, though the political opposition accused Davutoğlu of sparking the conflict deliberately to win back votes and regain a parliamentary majority in the November 2015 snap election.

His government also presided over the ongoing political conflict with the Gülen Movement and the spillover effects of the Syrian Civil War across the border with Turkey, as well as the European migrant crisis that emerged as a result.

Although his foreign policy outlook has been described as Neo-Ottoman or Pan-Islamist, Davutoğlu made Turkey's accession bid to the European Union a strategic target for his government.

He has been criticised for failing to tackle political corruption and for growing government authoritarianism, with a new national security bill in early 2015 causing opposition commentators to accuse his government of turning Turkey into a police state.

He resigned as Prime Minister on 22 May 2016.

He announced that an Extraordinary party Congress would be held on 22 May 2016 and that he would not stand for re-election for the party leadership.

He was succeeded as leader by Binali Yıldırım and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister soon afterward.

In September 2019, having long been speculated to be preparing to launch his own party, Davutoğlu resigned from the AKP and accused his former party of no longer being able to provide solutions for Turkey.

On 12 December 2019, he launched the Future Party (GP) and became its first leader; the party eventually became a member of the Nation Alliance, opposing AKP and Erdoğan.

Ahmet Davutoğlu was born in Taşkent, Konya, Turkey.

He graduated from Istanbul High School, which is a Deutsche Auslandsschule (German International School) and studied at the Department of Economics and Political Science of the Boğaziçi University, Istanbul.

He holds a master's degree in public administration and a PhD degree in political science and international relations from Boğaziçi University.