ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday took on greater powers than any Turkish leader for decades as he was sworn in for a second presidential term, under a new system denounced by opponents as a one man regime.Erdogan, who has transformed Turkey in 15 years of rule, described the change as a “new beginning” in the country’s history and vowed to be the president of all 81 million Turks.He took his oath in parliament for a new five-year term after his June election victory, followed by a ceremony at the presidential palace attended by dozens of world leaders marking the transition to the new executive presidency system.“We will work to be deserving of not just those who voted for us but the 81 million,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkey had paid a “heavy price” with its old system of government.Erdogan will face immediate challenges posed by an imbalanced if fast-growing economy and foreign policy tensions between the West and Turkey, a NATO member.He has also pledged to end the state of emergency that has been in place since the failed July 2016 coup and which has seen the biggest purge in the history of modern Turkey.One day ahead of the inauguration, 18,632 public sector employees were ordered dismissed, including thousands of soldiers and police officers in a new crackdown.Seeking to counter his critics, Erdogan vowed that “in the new period, Turkey will go much further in terms of democratic fundamentals, rights, freedom and economic investment.”“We have come not to be master but to be servant of our people,” he added.- ‘One-man regime’ -The new system, which dispenses with the office of prime minister, was agreed in a bitterly fought 2017 referendum narrowly won by the “Yes” camp. The issue is still polarising in Turkey.“A partisan one-man regime starts officially today,” said the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper.But the pro-government daily Yeni Safak wrote under the headline “historic day”: “One page is closing in Turkish history and a new page is opening.”The president now sits at the top of a vertical power structure marked by a slimmed-down government with 16 ministries instead of 26 and multiple bodies reporting to him.In one of the most significant changes, the EU affairs ministry, set up in 2011 to oversee Turkey‘s faltering bid to join the bloc, is being subsumed into the foreign ministry.Prime Minister Binali Yildirim now goes down in history as the 27th and final holder of the post in Turkey. He is expected to become speaker of the new parliament.
07-10-2018, 10:40 AM
Erdogan assumes expanded powers in Turkey?s new era
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