'Erdogan Will Become 'Dictator' With De Facto Presidential System'

'Erdogan Will Become 'Dictator' With De Facto Presidential System'. (Haberler)

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has, for the most part, decided on its strategy for the presidential election in August and will seek a plan to switch to a de facto presidential or semi-presidential system, which opposition parties have slammed as a move that will pave the way for dictatorship.

“This would lead to a de facto dictatorship,” Faruk Bal, deputy chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), told Today's Zaman, noting that as per the Constitution, presidents are not accountable for their acts before the law. 

Whether Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will run for president in the election in August has been a source of controversy, but according to a report by the Radikal daily on Sunday, Erdogan's plan is no longer a mystery.

According to decisions reached by Erdogan, President Abdullah Gül and senior members of the AK Party, Erdogan will run for president. Should Erdogan be elected president, a temporary prime minister -- though no name has yet been finaliized -- will run the country for the next 10 months until the 2015 general elections, during which Erdogan will reportedly be de facto acting like a president in a presidential system. Another part of the plan is to have Gül elected as leader of the AK Party following the 2015 general elections.

Not only is the president not accountable before the law other than for charges of treason under the Turkish parliamentarian system, the current political system also lacks checks and balances required in a presidential system to counterbalance a powerful president. “In the current system, it is not possible to counterbalance the president [who would hold extensive powers as in a presidential system]. A ruler who is not restricted by a system of checks and balances is called a dictator,” Bal commented.

The AK Party's plan rests on two important factors. Firstly, this year the people will be electing the president for the first time as opposed to the previous system where presidents were voted in by Parliament. According to Radikal, as president, Erdogan will try to use the powers of a president in a presidential system, creating a de-facto regime change.

If the AK Party faces no obstacles to this plan and if the formula of a new and powerful president is accepted by society, Erdogan will continue as president with his ineffective prime minister. If however, problems emerge during the course of his presidency, the AK Party will opt for a stronger prime minister.

According to Atilla Kart, a deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), such a step would represent a violation of the Constitution given that it is based on the requirements of a parliamentarian democracy.

“Such a move would in fact be a de facto coup d'état in the constitutional sense,” Kart told Today's Zaman, accusing Erdogan of having dictatorial tendencies. Noting that such a step would disturb the balance of the current parliamentarian system, Kart challengingly said: “The Turkish Republic would prevent such attempts.”

President Gül will likely be elected as leader of the AK Party and prime minister after the 2015 elections. Hmmmm......My guess the current FM will become PM and President Gül will be AK party leader, as his 'reward' for playing 'Good cop- bad cop' these last years.Read the full story here.