Pelican files

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (left) and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (right)

The Pelican files (Turkish: Pelikan dosyası) refer to an unattributed list of 27 different items released in April 2016 detailing points of conflict between the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, two politicians from the Justice and Development Party of Turkey who assumed their respective offices on 28 August 2014.[1] Released by unnamed Erdoğan supporters as a WordPress.com blog, the files heavily criticised Davutoğlu for disobeying Erdoğan's political agenda. The release of the files were widely attributed to sparking the events that would eventually lead to Davutoğlu being ousted as Prime Minister.[2] The name "Pelican files" is a reference to the 1993 political thriller The Pelican Brief.[3]

The files were released at a time when relations between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan had deteriorated sharply.[4] Rumours that Davutoğlu had submitted his resignation as Prime Minister were followed by the AKP Central Executive Decision Committee (MKYK) revoking Davutoğlu's right to appoint provincial and district party representatives.[5][6] On 4 May 2016, a day earlier than planned, Davutoğlu and Erdoğan held a meeting at the Presidential Complex.[7] Although it was initially dubbed as a 'routine meeting' by presidential staff, the meeting was followed shortly after by a decision by the AKP to hold an Extraordinary Congress in 2016 in which Davutoğlu would not stand as a leadership candidate.[8][9]

The publication and aim of the "memorandum" was predicted by blogger Fuat Avni. On 19 April 2016 he wrote that Erdoğan was planning a "coup against Davutoğlu" and that the "pelican" of "Berat and Serhat" (a reference to Erdoğan's son-in-law and his brother) was about to fly.[10] It is described as a palace coup d'état in Turkish social media[11] and other sources.[12][13]

  1. ^ "Cumhuriyet Gazetesi - 'Pelikan dosyası' doğru çıktı". 4 May 2016.
  2. ^ "Davutoğlu'na darbe üzerine darbe".
  3. ^ "How mysterious new Turkish blog exposed Erdogan-Davutoglu rift". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Erdoğan - Davutoğlu gerilimi Financial Times'da". birgun.net. 3 May 2016.
  5. ^ "Ahmet Davutoğlu istifa mı etti?". Gerçek Gündem. Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  6. ^ "Cumhuriyet Gazetesi - AKP MKYK'den Davutoğlu'na büyük darbe". 29 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan Başbakan Davutoğlu görüşmesi sona erdi". Sabah. 4 May 2016.
  8. ^ Hazar Şahsuvar (4 May 2016). "Cumhurbaşkanlığı kaynakları: Haftalık olağan görüşme sona erdi". Karar.com.
  9. ^ "Son Dakika: AKP kongreye gidiyor!". Detay Kıbrıs. 4 May 2016.
  10. ^ The Pelican Brief: Erdoğanist blog seeks to topple Davutoğlu, an English translation http://theturkishsun.com/the-pelican-brief-erdoganist-blog-seeks-to-topple-davutoglu-an-english-translation-18140/
  11. ^ "#4 Mayıs Saray darbesi".
  12. ^ "Bu saray darbesi nedir .toğlanları - article - ODATV".
  13. ^ "Davutoğlu'na Saray darbesini MHP'ye yargı darbesi izler mi; 25 maddede AKP tarihi ve ihtimaller".