President Erdoğan Secretly Visited AK Party Headquarters, Says Daily

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has secretly visited the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters in Ankara two times, since beginning active duty as president, in order to hold secret meetings with senior party officials, the Taraf daily claimed on Friday.

“Erdoğan entered the AK Party headquarters in the middle of the night to give secret instructions to keep the government under control. The officers who work at the building were warned to keep Erdoğan's visit a secret to prevent it from being leaked to press,” Taraf said.

The daily also reported that revelations from an adviser at the Prime Ministry's Office, who allegedly passed on confidential information regarding Cabinet meetings to advisers at the Presidential Office, have been seen as an initial sign of conflict between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Taraf daily claimed on Friday.

According to the daily, after the mole in the prime ministry who had allegedly given confidential information to the president's advisers was discovered, the prime minister fired him from his position at the prime ministry.

“When Erdoğan heard of the removal of the mole in the prime ministry, he said things would not go well with the current circumstances and that the country's system must be changed to a presidential system as soon as possible,” Taraf said.

Erdoğan, who was elected president in the first direct presidential election in August, appointed former Foreign Minister Davutoğlu as his successor. Erdoğan's aspirations to behave as a president in a presidential system, though Turkey is a parliamentary democracy, as well as remarks suggesting that he will fully exercise his powers as president, have led to concerns that there will be a rift between himself and the prime minister.

Prime Minister Davutoğlu has been accused of operating under Erdoğan's command by opposition leaders and academics. Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated on Oct. 14 that he would respect Prime Minister Davutoğlu if he did not act as Erdoğan's puppet. “Davutoğlu held a meeting last month saying that he was in charge. But he forgot something. Erdoğan does not see him as prime minister. We are willing to address ourselves to Davutoğlu. Now I call on him to prevent Erdoğan from entering the realm of authority. Before he began active duty, Erdoğan vowed to be impartial upon his honor. What honor are you talking about? Today the prime ministerial post is effectively empty,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Speaking to Today's Zaman, Professor Azuolas Bagdonas from İstanbul's Fatih University said there is a soft separation of powers in Turkey. “Such a separation generally limits the operational field of the government. But soft division does not mean that powers are allowed to intervene in each others' realms of authority. There is a division of the legislative, executive and judicial functions of the bodies. Everybody's area of operation is specified by the Constitution. I am just speaking academically; acting under the command of the presidency is unacceptable for the government,” Bagdonas noted.

Academic and columnist Şahin Alpay says many tend to think that Davutoğlu is ready to assume a subservient role because of Erdoğan's continued support despite all the grave foreign policy failures, for which Davutoğlu bears some responsibility, since 2011. “I doubt, however, if Erdoğan himself knows for sure the answer to the question of whether Davutoğlu will play the puppet role properly. I suspect he will wait and see, and if Davutoğlu does not display the loyalty he expects, he may well turn to another policy,” Alpay says.

Arslan Ayan (Cihan/Today's Zaman)