ANKARA: Turkey’s ruling AK Party decided yesterday to maintain a three-term limit for its deputies, the clearest signal yet that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will run in the nation’s first direct election for president in August.
There has been speculation the AKP would change its rules to enable Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, to stay on as prime minister for a fourth term and finish off a power struggle with an influential Islamic cleric he accuses of seeking to topple him.
But in a five-hour meeting to discuss election strategy, chaired by Erdogan, the party’s executive board decided not to amend the three-term limit, an internal regulation which the prime minister himself has long publicly championed.
“It was decided appropriate to take no steps on the three-term rule,” AKP spokesman Huseyin Celik said. Party consultations on strategy for the presidential election were continuing, he said. Erdogan said in October he would run for the presidency if asked to do so by the party.
August’s election will be the first popular vote for the presidency. Until now, the president has been chosen by parliament and played a largely ceremonial role. Erdogan has said that will give it more authority, and has vowed to exercise its full powers if elected.
But his failure to establish the executive presidency he had long coveted and a corruption scandal that has dogged his government since December had fuelled speculation that he may seek instead to stay as prime minister.
Erdogan has cast the graft scandal as a plot to oust him by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally with influence in the police and judiciary, whom he now accuses of seeking to seize the levers of state power. Gulen denies any such role.
“This is a big step towards Erdogan running for the presidency,” a senior AK Party official said after yesterday’s meeting, but added that a final decision would not be announced before a broader party meeting due next weekend.
The three-term limit also means high-profile figures such as Ali Babacan, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag cannot be re-appointed. A second senior government official said Erdogan would be likely to keep such allies close should he ascend to the presidency, appointing them as special advisers on issues ranging from the economy to diplomacy and energy affairs.
“Turkey needs good advisers ... Erdogan will be able to function with his allies as an active president. He will not leave them behind,” the official said.
Reuters
