Erdoğan’s bid to create de facto presidential system to lead tension
MESOP : THE DE FACTO SULTAN RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN
April 21, 2014, Sunday/ Zaman – AYDIN ALBAYRAK/ ANKARA – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s intention to de facto convert Turkey’s parliamentarian system to a presidential one without changing the Constitution is sure to cause political tension, analysts have said.
“Erdoğan is trying to create a de facto situation that will create tension,” Mümtazer Türköne, who believes the prime minister will run for president, told Today’s Zaman. In his speech during a ceremony in İstanbul over the weekend, Erdoğan used the term “başkan” (president) together with “cumhurbaşkanı,” which signifies the head of state in a parliamentarian democracy like Turkey.
“The president will be elected by popular vote. … People will go to the ballot box to elect their başkan,” Erdoğan said on Saturday. Ahead of the presidential elections set for August, his discourse raises concerns that he will push for the de facto conversion of the political system to a presidential one.
“This is a reflection of a man [Erdoğan] who sees himself above institutions. He represents a mentality that knows no obstacles in transforming the regime,” Atilla Kart, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) told Today’s Zaman. For the first time in Turkey, a president will be elected by popular vote. The ruling party does not have the majority required in Parliament to transform the country’s political system into a presidential system. “Erdoğan is trying to create a de facto situation,” explained Türköne, who believes the prime minister will run for president. He added that he expects Erdoğan to pull many other rabbits out of his hat on the way to the presidential elections. Erdoğan and opposition parties made a previous effort to convert the system into a presidential system by amending the Constitution, but failed, as opposition parties feared that the system would turn into a dictatorship in Turkey with such a lack in proper checks and balances.
Over the past week, Erdoğan has signaled that he intended to continue being the one who pulls the strings if elected president. “If I step into [the presidential palace], I will be the president of the people. I will use all my constitutional powers,” the prime minister reportedly said during a meeting with AK Party deputies at the party’s headquarters. Such a move may de facto bring about a regime change. “With some push, the [political] system, may be converted into a semi-presidential system but remain within constitutional borders,” İdris Bal, a former AK Party deputy who resigned from the party at the end of last year told Today’s Zaman.
Although the current Constitution bestows on the president the power to head Cabinet meetings if he so wishes, former presidents including current President Abdullah Gül have not used that power in order not to cause power clashes with prime ministers who are, in a constitutional system, described as the main executive branch. Analysts fear that Erdoğan’s move to subordinate the government to the president by heading cabinet meetings would cause a serious clash of powers in the political system, as such an attempt would most probably pit prime ministers, who are described as head of the executive in the constitutional system, against the president. “The prime minister said, ‘I will use all my powers.’ If he [attempts to] head all Cabinet meetings, this would lead to a serious crisis of the [political] system, a crisis between the president and the prime minister,” Bal commented.
As per the Constitution, presidents represent the unity of the nation and are endowed more with checks-and-balances powers rather than the executive kind. The fact that presidents are unaccountable before the law and cannot be tried in court for crimes other than treason is a major argument against a powerful president in the Turkish political system. “Efforts to [de facto] transform the [political] system will create huge tension in the country,” Nazlı Ilıcak, a columnist for the Bugün daily, told Today’s Zaman. “The person who sits in the presidential post should be more unifying instead of increasing the tension,” she added.
In the past week, in a way that was perceived by some as a reproach to Erdoğan’s dominating ways ahead of the presidential elections, President Gül said: “Under the current circumstances, I would like to share here that I do not have a plan for politics.” Reportedly, Gül is hurt, as Erdoğan does not seem so willing to hand over the reins of the ruling party to Gül after Gül leaves office, assuming of course that Erdoğan is elected.
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said on Saturday that Erdoğan is likely to make his decision about running for presidency by mid-May, after consulting with Gül. Asked to comment on Gül’s remark, Arınç said: “We believe, should Erdoğan want to run for president, that Gül would be honored by that and would support his candidacy.” Should Erdoğan win at the upcoming presidential elections, his post as prime minister and as chairman of the AK Party will come to an end. As Gül is not a deputy, he will not be able to immediately serve as prime minister. If Gül cannot control the AK party, it would not be possible for him to serve as a strong and executive prime minister vis-a-vis the president. In the first round of the elections, scheduled for Aug. 10, the candidate who obtains more than half of the votes will be elected president. If none of the candidates manages to obtain more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, then the two candidates with the most votes in the first round will compete in a runoff. The candidate who receives the most votes in the second leg will be elected president and serve a five-year-long term.
BBP leader’s warning to Erdoğan
Strong criticism uttered by the leader of an opposition party towards Prime Minister Erdoğan and to the ruling party signals that Erdoğan might not receive his party’s support in the upcoming presidential elections should he decide to run for president.
“Of course, nobody should expect us to be neutral in this process [of electing a president],” said Mustafa Destici, leader of the Grand Unity Party (BBP) on Sunday. His remarks criticize the government for unjustly attacking the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, while displaying extreme tolerance towards terrorism and those affiliated with terrorism. Destici also criticized the government for attempting to change the election system to suit the ruling party’s interests in the next general elections scheduled to take place in June 2015. Destici said: “There is something everybody needs to know. We are not electing a president in a presidential system. [The president] will have the same powers as he has today in the parliamentarian system, in which he is elected by popular vote.” http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail.action?newsId=345682