Erdoğan Consolidates Presidential Power

Turkey’s president has significantly less power than the prime minister, according to the country’s constitution. But when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election after two terms as prime minister, he promised to transform this largely symbolic position into an active one, and in the process, mold Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential one.

Since winning the election, he has not wasted any time. Erdoğan is now chairing cabinet meetings, which is normally the prime minister’s job as the head of government. While the Turkish constitution contains provisions allowing for the president to chair cabinet meetings instead of the prime minister, the step is unprecedented in recent times. On Monday, Erdoğan exercised this prerogative for the second time in seven weeks. The last time a Turkish president did so was more than a decade ago.

The opposition is increasingly troubled by Erdoğan’s projection of partisanship, too. The Turkish president, after all, is required by the constitution to be non-partisan and above politics. But since his election to the post in August, Erdoğan’s fingerprints have been found on almost all major decisions made by his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP). “We see a unification of powers not in the hands of an institution, but in the hands of one person,” one opposition deputy lamented after Monday’s meeting.

Most recently, former National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Hakan Fidan’s reappointment on Monday – only a month after his resignation – stirred controversy. While Erdoğan disagreed with Fidan’s decision to leave the agency, he acknowledged that it was up to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to make the final call. But after Erdoğan twice expressed his disapproval of Fidan’s departure, Davutoğlu and Fidan felt compelled to comply with the president’s wishes, and the prime minister reappointed him to the agency. One opposition deputy filed an appeal over the fact that Fidan had joined the AKP after his resignation, and is now a partisan figure.

Erdogan has also breached the boundaries of his office to sweep corruption allegations against members of his party under the rug. On January 20, the AKP  voted on whether to send four ex-ministers to court over corruption allegations. Davutoğlu, as the official head of the AKP, called on the ministers to voluntarily stand trial. However Erdoğan, refusing to relinquish control of the party, campaigned for the AKP to vote against sending the men to court and ultimately prevailed.

These seemingly isolated episodes show Erdoğan’s larger ambition to formally consolidate his power and push Turkey toward a presidential system – a change that would require amending the constitution. To do so, Erdoğan needs to form a larger majority in Turkey’s Grand Assembly to overcome the opposition’s resistance. The general elections in June will be a defining moment, not only for the makeup for the Grand Assembly, but for the trajectory of Turkey’s embattled democratic system.

Merve Tahiroglu is a research associate at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing on Turkey.