Turkey’s new Sultan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in a historic referendum, albeit a narrow win that is being contested, whose final results will be known in about a week. Giving the President sweeping powers, Turks may have taken a historic path strewn with uncertainties. The region’s geopolitics may also shift dramatically as Turkey evolves from a parliamentary democracy into a presidential republic, where the death penalty may also be reinstated. With Mr Erdogan being from a stream of political Islam, in contrast to Kamal Ataturk’s historic secularism, the very credo of the state will transform as it shifts from the principles it inherited as modern Turkey was founded on the Ottoman empire’s ashes.

As the gateway linking Europe and Asia, secular Turkey, despite being an Islamic state, was a bridge between continents and cultures. Given its size and importance as a military power, instability in Turkey can upset the balance in a critical region already torn by conflicts. Last year’s failed coup may have spurred Mr Erdogan into this final act of pushing Turkey’s ailing democracy towards total autocracy, with civic freedoms severely abridged. He will not only hold all executive power but head the ruling AK party and decide who it nominates as legislators, hire and fire judges and prosecutors and presumably become Turkey’s new sultan. He has already ruled for 14 years, but under the new constitution could be in office till 2034. This new personality cult might spell danger to old allies from the West, as the thin margin leads to further divisions in Turkish society.