It makes you laugh and cry at the same time. The entire media apparatus and all government agencies have been corralled into a mammoth chorus to sing the praises of the “presidential system”, that amazing new discovery that will rescue the country and its people from all ills. It will end once and for all, the confusion and instability that have plagued Turkish politics and launch “a new era and a new page in our republic and our state”, as parliamentary speaker Ismail Kahraman put it. It will save Turkey from coups, vowed PM Benali Yildirim whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed premier for the sole purpose of realising that long cherished dream of his to have all the reins of power placed firmly and securely in his own hands alone. Yildirim, whose friendship and political association with Erdogan goes back three decades, was filled with emotion, as though just having emerged victorious from a fierce battle. Voice quivering, he stressed that the blessing of a presidential system “will terminate any possibility of the creation of coalition governments”. In the lexicon of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as compiled and edited by the current president, “coalition government” is akin to a deadly vine that strangles all development efforts. What the prime minister failed to explain was the source of the urgency. The AKP has ruled Turkey for 14 years without a partner and with no intention to consult anyone outside its inner circle. He also overlooked the fact that it was the international economic expert and former head of UNDP Kemal Dervis who designed the plans for Turkey's successful economic recovery programme launched in 2001 at the time when Dervis was in the coalition government of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. Had it not been for the groundwork laid by that coalition government, Erdogan would never have been able to boast his economic achievements. Naturally, no one in the ever widening sycophantic circles surrounding the leader has ventured to wonder, out loud at least, that if the presidential system has such magical powers to lift Turkey out of its current straits and line its streets with gold and create high-paying jobs for everyone, why did Erdogan never bring up the subject when he was prime minister? At that time, the AKP controlled 367 seats in parliament, so passing the required constitutional amendment would have been a breeze. It could probably have obtained the required majority to pass in parliament without having to go to a plebiscite. Even supposing the unlikely scenario of a handful of AKP going against his will, the amendment bill still would have won the necessary 60 per cent majority needed to bring it to a public referendum, and the chances are that it would have succeeded because Erdogan at the time was still riding high on the crest of his magnificent achievements. But then, this was not quite the vision that Erdogan had in mind, even before when he was still governor of Istanbul. That vision could not be complete without himself in the presidential throne. One cannot help but to chuckle when one looks back at his first clash with Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who was Turkey's president during Erdogan's first term as prime minister. At that time Erdogan fumed that the president's authorities were too broad and that parliament needed to trim them. Sezer, a famously modest individual who tended to shy away from the limelight, responded that, indeed, a president should be restricted in the powers granted to him by the constitution and that if parliament sought fit to restrict them further it had only to promulgate an amendment to that effect. Control over the executive authority should rest with parliament, he added. Sezer had the measure of the then prime minister who would go on to doggedly pursue the exact opposite when he became president. At last, on Friday last week amidst great fanfare, Yildirim officially submitted to parliament the results of the deal that he worked out with Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the ultranationalist National Movement Party (MHP). Bahçeli had been tossed a lifesaver not long ago when he faced an insurrection within his own party, and as payback for being able to remain chief of the MHP he renounced his “resolute and unwavering” opposition to the presidential system. Naturally, a certain amount of staging was required. So over the preceding weeks they created the impression that the two parties — the AKP and the MHP — were locked in marathon negotiations to hammer out those final sticking points. To build up suspense, Yildirim announced that Bahçeli was huddled in intense consultations with his fellow party members to study the AKP's proposals regarding the constitutional amendment bill. “We hope to complete this in a matter of days,” he said, giving rise to speculation that maybe Bahçeli was not such a sheep in a grey wolf's clothing after all. In fact, the two sides had come to terms weeks ago, but it was in the interests of both sides to apply cosmetics to help Bahçeli keep face after having performed a 180 turn on his position. The AKP-MHP pact that was unveiled to parliament last week is a 21-Article constitutional amendment bill intended to frame the formal conversion to a system in which the president is granted absolute powers. Erdogan, according to this blueprint, will appoint all ministers and the members of the National Security Council. He, alone, will have the authority to draw up the national budget, to declare states of emergency and to appoint half the members of the High Council for Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey (HSYK). The next step is for the parliament's constitutional committee to study the bill. After which it will be submitted to the floor for general discussion. Then it will be brought to a vote. If it obtains a two-thirds majority of the total number of MPs (367 out of 550 votes), the bill will go directly to the president for ratification, after which it will be published in the official gazette and go into effect. If, on the other hand, it fails to obtain the 367, it will need to win at least 330 votes in order to be brought to a referendum by the people who, as Yildirim put it, “hold in their hands the ultimate solution to the problems and crisis in Turkey”. The people will probably fulfil his and his boss's expectations. After all, apart from a handful of exceptions, they now have only one source of news and information, even if it appears to have many outlets. No matter what channel they switch to, the images of Erdogan peer out from their TV screens while the same AKP messages are blazoned on the nation's dailies. There remains an opposition, but its voice has less and less opportunity to reach the people in view of the relentless campaigns of repression against the opposition press, journalists, politicians and academics. In spite of the bleak scenario that lays ahead, there still remains a glimmer of hope that Erdogan will not be able to attain his dictatorial dream. Only two hours after Yildirim presented the constitutional amendment bill to parliament, explosions rocked Istanbul turning that day into a day of national grief and questioning.
