Renowned Turkish professor slams presidential system push

ISTANBUL

CİHAN Photo

World-renowned Turkish historian Prof. İlber Ortaylı slammed late on April 4 a recent push by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to shift Turkey’s government from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.

“What presidency?” he asked, while commenting on the issue during an interview on broadcaster CNN Türk. “Is it Uruguay here?” he said. “There will be thousands of problems.”

“He wants to become the president [in a presidential system],” the senior academic said, in reference to Erdoğan. Such a system would increase polarization and would eventually collapse, Ortaylı said.

He also criticized people for making the wrong choices in referendums over constitutional changes.

“Some 92 percent said yes to [1980 coup leader Kenan] Evren’s and the coup staff’s constitution,” he said.

“The Turkish nation is too loose on the constitution issue. It does not know what it wants or what it is doing,” he said.