PM: Presidential System To Be Added To Election Declaration

As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been harshly criticized for exercising the powers of a presidential system when no such system currently exists in Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has announced that the introduction of a presidential system will be added to his party's election declaration.

Speaking about the introduction of a presidential system that is in line with Erdoğan's demands during a televised interview on Saturday, Davutoğlu argued that the system must be changed because Turkey does not have a well-functioning parliamentary system.

"The current system should be changed and a presidential system should be implemented. The proposal for the change will be in the election declaration. I myself penned the framework of it," Davutoğlu stated. The general election is scheduled for June 7.

Davutoğlu contended that only a parliamentary-like system exists in the country, adding: "This system should be changed. Either a full parliamentary system or a presidential system should be in place."

Erdoğan seeks to exercise more executive power as president, contradicting his former stance on this issue as stated in a speech in 2007. In this speech, he underlined the importance of separation of powers and claimed to be opposed to any discourse or move that would lead to a “double-headed management” in the government. He stressed that the president's powers should be limited for a better functioning of democracy.

However, after he was elected president last August he began to act with authority not yet granted by the Constitution, as if the presidential system he hopes to implement had already been established. He has chaired meetings and bitterly criticized the government's key policies on both foreign and domestic subjects, infringing upon the separation of powers and weakening the power of Parliament. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)