Turkey's President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Thursday Ahmet Davutoglu's nomination as prime minister and chairman of the country's ruling party.

The announcement, made by outgoing Prime Minister Erdogan, was made after the conclusion of a meeting attended by top level members of the Justice and Development Party, more commonly referred to as the AKP in Turkey.

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Davutoglu - who served as Foreign Minister five years prior and as Erdogan's adviser before that - is an Erdogan loyalist. Observers said there were signs even before Thursday's announcement that Davutoglu would be named as the President-elect's successor.

"Erdogan is pretty confident of Davutoglu's loyalty," said Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies head Sinan Ulgen.

As Prime Minister, Davutoglu is expected to further peace with the Kurds, promote party unit, and more importantly, to battle against the "parallel state," a term Erdogan has coined to refer to the group led by U.S.-based Islamist preacher Fethullah Gulen whom he said wants to overthrow him.

Gulen's group is suspected to be responsible for a series of corruption probes made public last year that led to the dismissal of thousands of police officers and judiciary officials.

Davutoglu is also expected to support Erdogan's push for a more active role in the presidency.

Erdogan has affirmed he wants to boost the powers of the president such as in presiding over cabinet meetings, the Associated Press cited.

To do that, Erdogan needs to have a majority parliamentary party by June to gain support for a constitution change, a task the President-elect is confident Davutoglu is capable of.

While Davutoglu may be known as an Erdogan supporter, think tank political researcher Galip Dalay said the former won't be a puppet.

"He's going to have his own personality," he said, attributing the pair's amicable relationship to a shared vision for Turkey.

Davutoglu's endorsement as the new chairman of the AKP is expected to take place on Wednesday. He is the only candidate for the position.

TagsAhmet Davutoglu, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Justice and Development party, AKP, Turkey elections