CHP Grills Erdoğan Over Ambition To Establish Presidential System

Main Opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has harshly criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over his ambition to replace Turkey's current parliamentary system with a presidential one, accusing Erdoğan of imposing a kind of dictatorship on Turkey by seeking the new system of rule.

Speaking during his visit to Bursa on Thursday, Kılıçdaroğlu said that the presidential system is not even an issue on the public's agenda and that Turkey does not need any new system since the current parliamentary one is best.

When asked about Erdoğan's Wednesday meeting with the heads of Turkey's legislative, executive and judicial bodies, Kılıçdaroğlu said: “I want to ask this first: Is Turkey ready for a regime change? Do we know how we established the republic and parliamentary system? We have 150 years of experience with the parliamentary system; 150 years… Will we now close this 150-year notebook and open a new one? For whom? For the people? No. Is the public complaining about the parliamentary system? Have we ever convened to discuss the positive and negatives aspects of the parliamentary system? Have we ever worked to fix the problems with it? No. What is the main problem of Turkish politics now? It is dirtiness.”

Addressing Erdoğan and the government, Kılıçdaroğlu brought up four ministers who were implicated in a major corruption and bribery scandal that went public on Dec. 17, 2013. He asked: “Have you cleansed Turkish politics of thieves? Did you expel them from Parliament? Have you saved the public from being robbed? Have you ever tried to do this? No. What does the presidential system mean, then? I really wonder. Do we have to establish a regime for Erdoğan? We already have a 150-year-old parliamentary system. Does it have problems? Of course, yes. I know this. Can we fix these problems? Of course, yes. You will throw our 150 years of parliamentary experience into the dustbin and replace it with a system that we don't know at all because someone [Erdoğan] will enjoy it.”

Saying that the CHP will never accept the presidential system, Kılıçdaroğlu maintained that a country cannot be ruled by one person. “We do not accept an authoritarian system. The authoritarian system will bring dictatorship. It will bring more corruption. It teaches people not to think,” he said.

Emphasizing that the Turkish public will not accept a presidential system, Kılıçdaroğlu said the CHP defends democracy and human rights and that Erdoğan should give up his ambitions for a presidential system.

Democratic Progress Party (DGP) deputy İdris Bal also criticized Erdoğan over the presidential system, saying that the system, which is being planned by Erdoğan and the government, is a dictatorship. “This system will give great powers to Erdoğan and it will make Erdoğan a king in the 21st century.”

Adem Elitok, Bursa (Cihan/Today's Zaman)