DHAKA: Turkey’s ruling AK Party is set to appoint a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its leader and new prime minister, after a reported rift led Ahmet Davutoglu to quit.

Binali Yildirim, the outgoing transport minister, is the sole candidate at a party congress in Ankara, reports the BBC.

His main task will be to oversee constitutional changes to increase the president’s power, correspondents say.

The issue is thought to have been behind the resignation of Davutoglu.

The BBC’s Mark Lowen in Istanbul says Yildirim will not step out of line with Erdogan and will even be ready to support a constitutional change that would see his role effectively scrapped.

Some Western leaders find Erdogan hard to deal with, he says, and opponents believe an unchecked Erdogan will clamp down further on dissent.

But Erdogan’s supporters - mainly conservative, pious Turks - still see him as the man who gave them a political voice and insist he is right to exert his control, our correspondent says.

Yildirim takes the job as Turkey faces security threats from PKK Kurdish militants and so-called Islamic State (IS).

BDST: 1608 HRS, MAY 22, 2016
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