AKP signals presidential system with one chamber

EDİRNE – Anadolu Agency

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The AKP proposes a unitary presidential system, the party’s commission head Mustafa Şentop has said, adding that the AKP is working on a two-stage election system in the country

‘The most important thing is to preserve [Turkey’s] unitary structure. What we propose is a unitary presidential system,’ Şentop says in a speech.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is working on a system that will impose a system with one chamber, a presidential system and a two-stage election system on the country, the party’s constitution commission head, Mustafa Şentop, has said. 

“The most important thing is to preserve [Turkey’s] unitary structure... There is a federal [system] in the United States; this has nothing to do with the presidency, but there are those who claim this. This is impossible. In Germany, there is a federal [system] but there is also a parliamentary system. There is a parliamentary system in Turkey … I think that these [systems] are not connected. What we propose is a unitary presidential system. In the United States there are dual parliaments; our suggestion is a single (chamber) parliament,” said Şentop during an event at Trakya University in the northwestern province of Edirne.

The AKP has finalized preparations for the draft of a constitutional amendment, which will change the country’s parliamentary system to an executive presidency, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Oct. 23. 

“We have finalized our work on both the new constitution and on the presidential [system]. We have made sufficient discussions both in parliament and by the public. We’ll bring our proposal to parliament as soon as possible,” Yıldırım said in an address to deputies in his closing speech at a three-day AKP camp in the western province of Afyon. During the camp, some AKP deputies suggested that the party’s deputy chair, Şaban Dişli, should step down from his position because his brother, Maj.-Gen. Mehmet Dişli, was arrested as part of a probe into the Gülenist organization in the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Oct. 24. 

Dişli wanted to speak with prime minister according to the report, during one of the sessions held in Afyon, an AKP deputy said: “We are expecting a sacrifice from one of our friends. We are not accusing [him], and we are not judging [him], but we are expecting a sacrifice,” implying Dişli. After these statements, Dişli sought to speak but Yıldırım did not allow him to do so to prevent any further arguments.