Turkish dailies' front pages were heavily dominated Friday by the nomination of Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, as new prime minister, thus succeeding President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had held the position since 2003. Davutoglu has been the country's top diplomat for the past five years. According to SABAH, which headlined "Prime Minister Davutoglu," criteria behind the nomination included his support for the ongoing reconciliation process with the Kurds, determination in combatting the "parallel state" and a willingness to write up a new constitution. Davutoglu, whose nomination was not a surprise according to Daily VATAN, promised to keep fighting against the influential group -- also called the "parallel state" -- allegedly led by U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, which the government accuses of being nestled within key state institutions including the judiciary and the police.
Daily YENI SAFAK featured Davutoglu's remarks on his willingness to pursue the "restoration" of Turkey -- essentially referring to the reforms initially launched by the leader of the party, Erdogan.
Meanwhile, the daily TURKIYE covered two funerals of two Turkish soldiers, who were killed in eastern Turkey following clashes over a disputed statue erected in the memory of a killed member of the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK), a group battling Turkey for the last 30 years.
The paper headlined "We Had Forgotten This Grief" referring to the cessation of hostilities since peace process talks between Turkish authorities and the PKK have been underway. No clashes between Turkish security forces and the PKK have been reported since March 2013 when the terrorist group announced a "cease-fire."
Front pages of nearly all newspapers today covered a peculiar story of a trickster husband who married a woman with a fake identity even though he was already 10-years married to another woman with whom he had had five kids.
SABAH headlined "Fake Groom in Real Wedding" referring to Ahmet Ciftci, a medical representative in Adana who created a fake ID, using his friend's name, Ismail Tas, to ask for a second woman's hand in marriage.
The truth was revealed when the real Ismail Tas went to a medical center, where he was told that his pregnant wife was there. The medical center had indeed been examining the expecting new wife of the phony husband according to HURRIYET. Ciftci is now under arrest due to document forgery and fraud.
Daily MILLIYET also reported on the ongoing search for five young men, who have gone missing in Istanbul since last week's stormy Sunday. They had gone to sea with a paddle boat. New voice records, which were revealed Thursday, suggest that the captain of a ferry did not stop even though several passengers had warned him that they had seen people waving in the middle of the sea.