Presidency should not be executive position: İhsanoğlu

ISTANBUL/ANKARA

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Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the joint presidential candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), has questioned whether the presidency should be used as an executive, decision-making position, in an open criticism of his rival, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Does the president hold the right to take on the role of the prime minister according to the Constitution?” İhsanoğlu asked while talking to journalists in Istanbul on July 8. “This is what I question. Is there is a [constitutional] article that I do not know about? I’m ready to learn it.”

Erdoğan has repeatedly made clear that he intends to use all the powers invested in the presidency, claiming that it is an executive seat.

İhsanoğlu quoted the presidential oath that says, “the president is the head of the state,” and said executive power is granted to the prime minister and the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said İhsanoğlu’s approaches to several issues did not have to be in line with his party.

“Our candidate İhsanoğlu should not be limited to the principles and essentials of the MHP, as he is not always obliged to be in balance or harmony with our party in his words, thought, attitudes and actions,” Bahçeli said in remarks to the etikhaber.com website.