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Will Presidential System Move Turkey Forward?

Pinar Tremblay argues it is in the best interest of Turkey and the AK Party to design accountable, transparent institutions as the basis for a future presidential system or governance model.  
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his lawmakers in Ankara, on March 26, 2013. Erdogan said today that he planned to create a committee of "wise men" with an advisory role, to supervise the peace process currently underway with Kurdish rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN        (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images)

On the evening of March 29, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on a Turkish TV channel explaining how a “strong Turkey” should not be afraid of an eyalet system. Eyalets were  semiautonomous provinces in the Ottoman era.

In doing so, he made reference both to contemporary developed countries and to the Ottomans. He argued that the country can preserve its unitarian system of central government along with federalism, and that this might be beneficial for a “strong Turkey.”

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