Minister from MHP ranks could be appointed in new system: PM Yıldırım

ANKARA

AA photo

Future cabinet members under an executive presidential system could contain ministers from the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) as the system will allow appointments from outside parliament, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said.

“Of course this process [of implementing an executive presidency] will be to the advantage of the MHP as well. They will consolidate their place in right-wing politics. Ministers from the ranks of the MHP and ministers [politically] close to the MHP may be appointed as the executive presidential system can make nominations from outside parliament. At the end of the day, politics is done in line with social balances,” Yıldırım told private broadcaster Fox TV on Jan. 18. 

Yıldırım recalled that the constitutional amendment package was drafted by taking the MHP’s sensitivities into account. “This is the system that will save the country. Mr. Devlet [Bahçeli, the MHP’s leader] thinks about the state.”

Describing Bahçeli as a very serious statesman, Yıldırım said the MHP leader was aware that all the discussions about the status of the president would end after the system changes in Turkey. 

The current system results in dual leadership, which can spark problems if the president and prime minister do not get along, Yıldırım said. “Now, we are removing this. The presidential system is my project. I have worked on it quietly and at length. I want to accomplish this,” he added. 

In response to criticisms that the system would introduce one-man rule, Yıldırım said: “In this new system, we can win maximum two terms. Then the CHP [Republican People’s Party] could also win. They should work accordingly and find a candidate. Both the parliament and president may force each other to go to the polls. This is called the ‘guillotine system.’ It avoids one-man rule and obliges compromise.” 

Yıldırım also expressed his wish to see the CHP support the package. “If only they would evaluate the package article by article instead of rejecting it in full,” he said. “Then we would opt for changes on some articles.”