Turkey’s Erdoğan to host second cabinet meeting in March

ANKARA

Hürriyet Photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Feb. 23 that he would host his second cabinet meeting as head of state on March 9.

The meeting will occur at the newly built presidential palace.

Erdoğan is Turkey’s first directly elected president and has repeatedly vowed to wield more power than his predecessors, prompting critics to accuse him of establishing a “de facto” presidential system.

Erodğan headed the cabinet meeting on Jan. 19, an unusually long one, which lasted eight hours, before a tête-à-tête meeting between himself and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Erdoğan has repeatedly said the theme of the upcoming parliamentary elections on June 7 will be a constitutional change, demanding votes from the citizens that would grant his former Justice and Development Party (AKP) at least 400 seats out of 550, which is way above the limit to make a change in the main law book.

The president insists on a shift to the presidential system from the parliamentary one, arguing that the current system is a “gown too tight for Turkey.”

The opposition parties argue that that this would lead to a “dictatorship.”