Erdogan to rejoin ruling party after Turkey referendum
ANKARA, Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was set yesterday to rejoin the ruling party after an absence of almost three years, the first major change to come into effect following the referendum victory on boosting his powers.
Erdogan last month narrowly won a referendum on a new constitution creating a presidential system with just over 51 per cent of the vote.
Under the old system, the head of state had to sever ties with their political party. Erdogan had to leave the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) when he became president in August 2014 after more than a decade as premier.
But a key change is that the president can be a member of a political party, allowing Erdogan to return to the AKP which he cofounded in 2001 as a new Islamicrooted force in Turkish politics and which has dominated the scene ever since.
Erdogan will be welcomed as a new member at a ceremony at party headquarters in Ankara and he is then expected to give a speech, according to AKP spokesman Yasin Aktay.
Aktay said Erdogan will also likely be reinstalled as party chairman on May 21 at an extraordinary AKP congress.
“During this congress, there will be an election and we envisage that the president will be elected as party chairman,” Aktay told reporters. — AFP