Issue #2, 22 nd April
Turkish referendum:
Erdogan to be handed
further executive
powers
The post of Prime Minister
will be abolished and
more powers handed to
the President following the
2019 election, assuming
the vote swings in Er-
dogan’s favour
By Matthew Clifton
Turkey have voted in favour of handing
further executive powers to President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the referen-
dum’s preliminary result saw the Yes
vote win with 51.4 per cent. This was
significantly short of the 55 per cent
mandate that he had predicted. The
new powers would see the Prime Min-
ister post abolished, with the President
handed most of the decision-making
powers and the ability to bypass the
Turkish Parliament.
The Lira, which is the country’s currency,
was buoyed by the result after it had lost
almost 20 per cent of its value following
the failed coup last year. It was up 2 per
cent higher than at close on Friday.
Most powerful Turkish
leader
The vote itself will have cemented Er-
dogan as the country’s most powerful
leader in its history and will allow him to
rule as leader until 2029. Longer than Ke-
mal Ataturk, the founder of Turkey. The
results however, highlighted a divide
within the country and the three biggest
cities of Izmir, the capital Ankara and Is-
tanbul, the latter is where Erdogan first
built a political base after becoming
mayor and this is the first time he lost an
election there since 2002. When Erdogan try it. It won’t succeed.”
was Prime Minister, he abolished the law
The referendum was held during a state
that stopped former PMs becoming Presi-
of emergency, which was declared fol-
dent.
lowing the failed coup last year and this is
This referendum marks the next step in
a major concern to EU states. The cam-
his bid to gain more power. He stated in
paign saw Erdogan flex his constitutional
his late-night address “April 16 is the vic- muscle which saw dozens of MPs jailed
tory of all who said Yes or No, of the
on unrelated terrorism charges, with the
whole 80m, of the whole of Turkey of
No campaign denied airtime on televi-
780,000-square kilometres.” But Erdogan sion and permission from municipal au-
must ensure all divisions are healed be-
thorities to hold rallies. They continue to
fore the 2019 elections, after which his
hold MPs from the pro-Kurdish party, the
new constitutional powers will be activat- HDP, by claiming that they have links to
ed. The powers would ensure that he will the far-left militant party, the PKK. He has
have largely unchecked constitutional
also jailed 150 journalists claiming them
powers, political immunity from prosecu- to be rapists and child molester.
tion and significant sway over judiciary
Turkey’s delicate situa-
and state budgets.
The referendum
With Erdogan insisting that only by giv-
ing himself unchecked powers and abol-
ishing the post of PM can he guide them
through the war in Syria with Islamists
and Kurdish separatists. During the cam-
paign a decision was made to allow the
counting of unstamped ballot., The leader
of the country’s largest opposition party,
the Republican People’s party, Kemal
Kilicdaroglu said “You can’t change the
rules of the match in the middle of the
game.” Erdogan simply replied “don’t
3
tion
There is concern over what happens next
and with the electorate seemingly voting
for a dictatorship, Erdogan is one of the
most dangerous men in the world. The
country could be at the mercy of the
whim of someone unpredictable, power
hungry, and illiberal. He attacks his op-
ponents with force and constantly dele-
gitimises them to reduce their public in-
fluence. What Turkey does next and how
he reacts to the No votes in the three ma-
jor cities is something the EU and other
global leaders will keep a careful eye on.