Pelican files

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. 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. The name "Pelican files" is a pun on the 1993 political thriller The Pelican Brief.

The files were released at a time when relations between Davutoğlu and Erdoğan had deteriorated sharply. 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. On 4 May 2016, a day earlier than planned, Davutoğlu and Erdoğan held a meeting at the Presidential Complex. 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.

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. It is described as a palace coup d'état in Turkish social media and other sources.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP), founded by the current President and former Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has been in power ever since winning the 2002 general elections by a landslide. In the 2014 presidential election, Erdoğan ran as the AKP's candidate and was elected President with 51.79% of the vote, naming Davutoğlu as his successor as party leader and Prime Minister. Many commentators claimed that Davutoğlu would take a submissive approach as Prime Minister while Erdoğan continued pursuing his political agenda as President, including the establishment of an executive presidency that would boost his powers. The Pelican files released in April 2016 detailed disagreements between Erdoğan and Davutoğlu on several issues concerning both national and inner-party political developments.

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Wikipedia