4 reasons Turkey is destined for an imperial presidency
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's April referendum will pass, not because Turkish voters yearn for one-man rule or authoritarianism, but because the system is producing the desired outcomes for those in power.
Turkey's president has his political propaganda machine all oiled up and ready to roll to victory in April, when voters will very likely grant him exceptional powers.
On Jan. 21, Turkey's parliament approved 18 amendments to its tainted constitution, which dates back to 1982. The controversial reforms now need to pass a national referendum in April. On Jan. 22, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan answered questions about the referendum. When asked about the public opinion polls, he said, “It is too soon to share the results of the polls we have right now, but let me tell you this for now — we see that our people have warmed up to the idea of a partisan president. Indeed, if we were not sure of this, we would not have embarked on this business [supporting the referendum].”
What makes Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) so confident of winning the April referendum? Al-Monitor spoke with several senior bureaucrats, pro-AKP pundits, businessmen and members of different Islamist and nationalist groups and found four core explanations for Erdogan’s expected victory.
First is the referendum's ambiguity. Although the 18 amendments propose to reduce the legislative powers of the parliament while expanding the president's executive powers to unlimited levels, supporters blatantly deny this fact.
