Stability or autocracy? Turkey divided over key referendum
ANKARA, Turkey—Turkey is heading toward a historic referendum on a new political system that could change the course of its history—and it has the country divided right down the middle.
For supporters, change will bring much-needed stability. Others fear it could lead Turkey down the path of an autocratic, one-man rule by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Voters will decide Sunday whether to approve constitutional changes that would replace the parliamentary system with a presidential one, scrapping the office of the prime minister and handing over its powers to the president.
Erdogan, who has fronted the campaign for a “yes” vote, says the proposed “Turkish-style” presidential system will banish weak governments, establish an efficient state and bring prosperity to the country.
A “yes” vote would allow 18 constitutional reforms that grant the president the power to appoint government ministers and senior officials, appoint half of the members in the country’s highest judicial body, declare states of emergency and issue decrees.
Critics argue that will allow Erdogan— who has been in power either as prime minister or president since 2003—to rule at least until 2029 with few checks and balances in a system where the separation of powers will be less clear-cut.
“The 18 articles foresee a very loose separation of powers,” said Ahmet Kasim Han, an associate professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. That “unduly invests the weight of the decisions and the power of the executive on the president.”
Polls suggest a neck-and-neck race for Sunday’s vote.
“It’s going to be a very close call, and both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are equally probable as outcomes,” Han said.
The referendum comes amid troubled times for Turkey, which has been plagued by a string of bombings, renewed violence between the government forces and Kurdish rebels and a failed coup attempt in July that resulted in a state of emergency that remains in place.
The emergency powers have permitted a widespread government crackdown that has targeted the followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen—whom Turkey blames for the coup—and other government opponents. Some 100,000 people—including judges and teachers—have been dismissed, and more than 40,000 people, including journalists and opposition pro-Kurdish legislators, have been arrested. Hundreds of news outlets and non-governmental organizations have been shut down.
Gulen denies any ties to the coup attempt.