AK party boss and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a long cherished dream; to scrap a 1982 coup-era constitution everyone agrees is no
ADVERTISEMENTAK party boss and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a long cherished dream; to scrap a 1982 coup-era constitution everyone agrees is no longer fit for purpose, and replace it.
Erdogan would like a more powerful presidency; fine say his opponents, as long as it’s US style, with checks and balances.
Emboldened by his election landslide, Erdogan is pitching his idea;
“I hope the opposition party leaders will all sit together around a table and work on this.
Anyone who resists our people’s wish for a new constitution, who tries to prevent it, will be held accountable in the next elections, in four years time,” he warned.
Constitutional reform was not the issue voters flocked to the AK party to support; they want security and an end to instability.
There is little evidence of that as the government rounds up dissidents and opponents with any connections to Kurdish extremism, members of the opposition Gulen network, or civil servants, military and police officers or journalists suspected of conspiring against the AK party.
The election victory also ensures there will be no immediate policy changes in Turkey’s twin wars against the Kurds and ISIL being fought along its Iraqi and Syrian borders.
Turkey’s allies would like it to concentrate more on ISIL than the Kurds and while there is more communication than before with Peshmerga fighters, the Turkish army will fight the PKK on sight.