Erdogan maneuver to keep executive from presidency

Although Recep Tayyip Erdogan victory in presidential elections on Sunday in Turkey could be perceived as the culmination of his political career, the prime minister still has a busy schedule ahead.

“Today we closed one era and we entered a new,” Erdogan said on Sunday in his first speech as president-elect. And a decision that will mark the political future of Turkey in this new era is precisely who will succeed him as chief executive.

On August 28, Erdogan will be officially named the 12th president of the Turkish Republic, the first elected by direct popular vote. Before, you should resign as Prime Minister, he has held since 2003, and its relationship with the Party for Justice and Development (AKP in Turkish), because in Turkey the figure of President is neutral and non-partisan, according to Constitution.

However, Erdogan says his presidency is going to be active and interventionist. And both he and the AKP have said that after the general elections scheduled for June 2015, would like to formally amend the Constitution to grant executive powers to the President. Erdogan wants to get as unquestioned leader of the country to 2023, the centenary of the Republic since its founding by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. So Erdogan had served 20 years in power, two more than he was Ataturk himself, who was also prime minister and then president.

” The [ new] Prime Minister will have to be someone who agrees to be under the chain of command of President Erdogan, someone that will be little more than symbolic,” said Yavuz Baydar, activist for freedom of expression and political commentator. ” Erdogan has said that want to chair meetings of the Cabinet, and then the Executive would be directed from the presidential palace,” which in theory goes against the Constitution as alert Baydar.

The question everyone is asking today in Turkey is, who will occupy the post of prime minister here in 2015 elections? Who will officially live as Chief Executive with the ambition of Erdogan as president?

Most experts point to Ahmet Davutoglu, the current Foreign Minister and a person close to Erdogan. Davutoglu, Doctor of International Relations, University former professor and author of several books, is one of the leaders, along with Erdogan, the idea that Turkey should be a power and a leading country in the region in the past occupied himself the Ottoman Empire.

Davutoglu is also behind the slogan “Zero problems with neighbors ” foreign policy and has been criticized precisely because Turkey currently does not have good relationships with several of these neighbors, such as Syria, Egypt, Israel and Iraq. Additionally, the United States and European countries accused Ankara of not having done enough to prevent the rise of jihadi groups now control much of Syria and Iraq, and allegedly used Turkish territory to navigate.

However, even President Abdullah Gül announced Monday that when his term ends on 28, will not leave politics but will be a member of the AKP, which is one of the founders with Erdogan. This has sparked rumors that Erdogan and Gül could star in an exchange of headquarters as that staged in 2012 the then Prime Minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

Gül and served as prime minister briefly when the AKP won the elections in 2002, before Erdogan himself became the head of government in 2003. still president, who has been a university professor and economist, was then appointed Minister Foreign position he held until he came to the presidency four years later. Gül is more moderate and conciliatory Erdogan, and their personalities could end up crashing if it was he who got the head of government.

“The next prime minister will be someone who (Erdogan) can control, or someone will not oppose his will. If someone high profile is appointed to the position, this could be a problem for Erdogan “analyzes Ali Aslan, the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, a think tank in Ankara.

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Posted by Nadeem Bajwa on Aug 13 2014. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.