Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday for a new constitution that would give him greater powers, despite opposition fears it could lead to authoritarian rule.
Erdogan also vowed there would be no let-up in the military campaign against Kurdish rebels, one of the key security challenges for his new administration after a wave of tit-for-tat violence left a truce in tatters.
The strongman of Turkish politics for more than a decade, Erdogan has long been pushing for a new constitution to transform his post into a powerful US-style executive presidency.
“Solving the issue of a new constitution was one of the most important messages of November 1,” he said in his first major policy speech since his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) weekend triumph at the ballot box.
His spokesman had said earlier that Turkey was considering holding a referendum on the constitutional reform if it failed to win the support of enough lawmakers in the new parliament.
In a surprise election victory on Sunday, the AKP won 317 seats in the 550-member parliament — enough to return it to single-party rule but still short of the 330 needed to change the constitution.
The country of 78 million people is still ruled under a 1980 charter drawn up by the military after a coup.
“We have a clear opinion that the presidential system will help Turkey jump to another league,” Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in Ankara.
“This is an issue that can be finalised after consulting with the people… If the mechanism to do this is a referendum, then one will be held.”
– No personal expectations –
Such a system would enshrine the head of state as chief of the executive, raising concerns at home and abroad about the risk of having so much power in the hands of one man.
Erdogan’s opponents already accuse him of becoming an autocratic leader who brooks no dissent and of seeking to force Islamic values on the traditionally secular society.
Kalin insisted the planned changes were not just for the benefit of Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since becoming premier in 2003 and became its first directly elected president in 2014.
“He is already a strong leader constitutionally and has already passed into history. He has no personal expectations,” he said.
“The debates on presidential system are not out of concern over his future. It is being considered as a useful model for Turkey.”
Erdogan, 61, argues that an executive presidency would be little different from the systems in democracies such as France and Brazil and that changing the current constitution is long overdue.
The AKP lost its majority in a June vote for the first time in 13 years, temporarily dashing Erdogan’s dream, but Sunday’s clear victory means the issue is firmly back on the political agenda.
– ‘No break’ against PKK –
Erdogan also vowed his government would continue to take Kurdish rebels head on after a wave of attacks in July put an end to a fragile peace process.
“The operations against the terrorist organisation inside and outside the country are continuing in a determined fashion,” he said.
“There will be no break. We will keep on,” said Erdogan, who as premier launched secret talks i8n 2012 with Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
His remarks came as two more Turkish soldiers were killed in fighting with Kurdish rebels in a southeastern town near the Iraqi border, the army said.
Turkish warplanes had on Monday and Tuesday bombed PKK targets in the restive Kurdish-majority southeast as well as in northern Iraq.
Four militants were also killed in clashes in the southeast on Tuesday.
“We will keep on fighting until the terrorist organisation buries their weapons under concrete and its members surrender and leave the country,” Erdogan said.
He also told the Muslim majority country’s 78 million people not to worry about the future.
“Tomorrow will be better than today,” he said.