BICOM

Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday began his latest term as Turkey’s President under a new system that gives him sweeping executive powers.

Erdogan, who was re-elected last month with 53 per cent of the vote, now leads the state’s executive branch with the power to appoint and dismiss vice-presidents, ministers, high-level officials and senior judges, without parliamentary approval. He is also able to dissolve parliament, issue executive decrees and impose a state of emergency.

Speaking at the Presidential Palace, Erdogan said: “In the new era, Turkey will improve in every field, including democracy, fundamental rights, freedoms, economy and large investments. Turkey is leaving behind a system which cost the country politically, socially, economically.”

He added: “We will try to be worthy of our nation, aware that we are not only [the government] of our supporters, but all 81 million Turkish citizens.”

Guests at the ceremony included Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Following a referendum in April 2017, constitutional changes were introduced to transform Turkey from a parliamentary system into an executive presidency. This is the first time the constitutional system has been changed since the foundation of the modern Turkish republic 95 years ago.

The role of Prime Minister does not exist in the new system and opposition parties in Turkey say the new constitution grants autocratic powers to the President.

Erdogan first came to power in 2002, leading an Islamic revival in Turkey after years of secular domination. For the last two years, he has ruled under a state of emergency imposed after a failed coup in 2016. Thousands of government officials were arrested, with more than a hundred thousand being made redundant, including over 18,000 in recent days. More than a hundred journalists and thousands of academics have also been imprisoned.