Newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan never made it a secret that he intends to exercise executive powers as president, even if Turkey does not have a presidential system, and has started to do this with regard to combating the Islamic State (IS).
Like Turgut Ozal, who was the Turkish president during the 1990-91 Gulf War, Erdogan has effectively taken the reins of power and is making policy.