Daily Times

ANKARA: Turkey’s new prime minister vowed on Tuesday to work immediately on forging the stronger presidency wanted by the incumbent, Tayyip Erdogan, and announced a cabinet that signalled policy continuity but left little doubt as to who was in charge.

Top members of the economic management team including Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, favoured by foreign investors as a reformer, kept their posts in the new government; but around half of the names were reshuffled as Erdogan consolidated his 14-year hold on power. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told parliament he would seize a “historic opportunity” to change a constitution born of a 1980 army coup. The new basic law would reflect the fact that the president had for the first time been popularly elected, rather than chosen by parliament.

Erdogan won Turkey’s first presidential election in 2014 having stepped down from the prime minister’s post with the intention of imbuing a largely ceremonial presidency with strong powers akin to those of the U.S. and French heads of state. Opponents fear creeping authoritarianism on the part of Erdogan, a polarising figure who commands fervent support from roughly half the country, helped by a weak and divided opposition that lacks strong leadership. The nationalist MHP opposition, whose support Erdogan may need to press through changes, said a presidential system would inevitably lead to despotism.

Yildirim told a parliamentary meeting of the ruling AK Party that change was needed as Turkey aims to become a top-10 global economy within seven years. “Turkey cannot reach its 2023 targets with its current constitution. This suit is too tight for this body now,” he said. “We are going to start working immediately on a new constitution that includes a presidential system … It’s the AK Party’s most important duty.” Yildirim rejected suggestions that the president, who will chair the new cabinet’s first meeting, was meddling in government affairs in violation of the current constitution. His words reflected the confused nature of a system that, while parliamentary in name, is dominated by Erdogan, by far Turkey’s most popular politician but loathed by opponents suspicious of his Islamist ideals and intolerance of dissent.