Turkey's AK party is meeting to try to form a government after losing its majority at a general election for the first time in 13 years. It secured 41%, a sharp drop from 2011, and must form a coalition or face entering a minority government. The Turkish lira and shares dropped sharply on Monday morning. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said no party had won enough support to govern alone - indicating the AKP would seek to form a coalition. Mr Erdogan called for all parties to take a "healthy and realistic" evaluation of the results. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is meeting AKP cabinet members and officials to assess the election results in Ankara. After the official final result is declared, he will have 45 days to form a government. No party has yet indicated it is willing to join a coalition with the AKP. One of Mr Davutoglu's deputies, Numan Kurtulmus, said he believed a government could be formed in that time, but that an early election was possible. The result is a blow to Mr Erdogan's plans to boost his office's powers. He first came to power as prime minister in 2003 and had been seeking a two-thirds majority to turn Turkey into a presidential republic. The pro-Kurdish HDP crossed the 10% threshold, securing seats in parliament for the first time. HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas ruled out entering into a coalition with the AKP. "The discussion of executive presidency and dictatorship have come to an end in Turkey with these elections," Mr Demirtas said. Many turned out to vote in the HDP's heartland of Diyarbakir, two days after a bombing in the eastern city killed two people and injured 200 more.
