Justice matters, not presidential system, TÜSİAD vice chair says

İZMİR – Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s prominent Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) does not have a preferred choice between the presidential and parliamentarian system, saying securing rights and freedoms is crucial in any system, according to the body’s vice president.
 
“TÜSİAD does not have a choice between the presidential and parliamentarian system. If a system cannot protect my rights, if a fair trial is not secured, then the name of the system will make no difference,” vice chairman Sedat Şükrü Ünlütürk said, speaking to reporters on April 7 in the western province of İzmir.

Ünlütürk said it was the possible candidates being debated in the country, not the system itself, according to the Economy Reporters Association’s (EMD) İzmir branch.

“The debate is being done over the names and people [of those who can be a president in a presidential system]. This is wrong. The names are not important when the rule of law and democracy is settled in the country,” he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has insistently stated the parliamentary system should be replaced with a new, “Turkish-style” presidential system.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, however, said on April 3 the presidential system without a system of checks and balances would not function properly.

“There cannot be a presidential system without an infrastructure, tuning [institutions] and the establishment of a system of checks and balances,” said Arınç in an interview to BBC Turkish, adding it would not be right to randomly pick up bits and pieces of different presidential systems from various countries and form a presidential system accordingly.