Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in a referendum on constitutional changes, which would grant him sweeping executive powers.
With almost all ballots counted, the “yes” side had 51.3 per cent of votes cast, against 48.7 per cent for the “no” camp. Turnout was high, with more than 86 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots.
Voters decided to abandon a parliamentary system in favour of an executive presidency, similar to that in Vladimir Putin’s Russia where the president answers no one except voters. The new system would abolish the office of prime minister, transferring powers to what is currently a largely ceremonial presidency. The legislative branch would be placed at the disposal of the executive. The president would be allowed to appoint ministers and some judges, prepare budgets, dissolve parliament on any grounds, declare a state of emergency as well as have the power to issue decrees, which could not be scrutinised by parliament or courts.
The president would be limited to two five-year terms, beginning with a presidential election in 2019, with the option of running for a third-term under certain conditions. Mr Erdogan can resume leadership of his neo-Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP), abandoning the requirement of presidential neutrality.
Mr Erdogan could potentially stay in office until at least 2029, enjoying more powers than any Turkish leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who forged modern Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire over nine decades ago. The “yes” camp’s victory brings Turkey closer to fully-fledged authoritarianism as no institution will be able to challenge the president.
Mr Erdogan has informally exercised executive power since moving from the office of prime minister to president in 2014. Under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of a failed military coup last summer, in which more than 200 people died, he has jailed around 50,000 people, including academics, teachers, opposition leaders, journalists and judges, and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 civil servants for their alleged ties to the secretive movement led by Fethullah Gulen, a reclusive Islamic cleric living in self-imposed exile in America, who is blamed by Mr Erdogan of orchestrating the July coup attempt.
Turkey is in political and economic turmoil. The economy is growing at half the rate in the early 2000s. Unemployment has climbed to the highest level in seven years. Inflation is running well above the central bank’s 5 per cent target. The government is waging a military campaign against Kurdish separatists in the Kurdish-majority south-east. In neighbouring Syria, a Turkish-backed rebel group has failed to oust president Bashar al-Assad, while Kurdish militias, backed by the US and Russia, have established autonomous regions in northern Syria (Turkey fears that Syrian Kurds want to establish a de facto state in northern Syria that would one day aspire for independence).
Mr Erdogan says that a strong presidency would make Turkey better able to tackle its challenges.
Photo: Agencia de Noticias ANDES/Micaela Ayala V.
