Erdoğan back with AK Party, Baykal sees the light
Erdoğan's return to the AK Party and the recent debates in the opposition CHP prove the April referendum was a significant milestone in Turkish politics
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday soon after the constitutional changes became official and Turkey entered the rule of a presidential system of government.
So just like U.S. President Donald Trump being a member of the Republican Party and former U.S. President Barack Obama being elected as a Democrat, our president now has a party affiliation.
This is only normal if the president is required to run a government, set policies and keep the country going.
The presidential powers allowing the president to run his government freely will go into effect in 2019 when the new president and parliament are elected in separate elections on the same date. But the new constitutional changes allow the president to be a party member immediately. So President Erdoğan, at a jubilant ceremony at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, returned to the party he founded in 2002 and became its member. In late May, probably on the 21st, he will be elected as the chairman of the party in an extraordinary convention.
So his departure from the party in August 2015, after he was elected president by a 52 percent majority by the people, which deeply saddened the AK Party rank and file, is now turning in to jubilation and hope that the "boss" is back and he will rejuvenate the party to become the beacon of hope for the future generations in Turkey.
The referendum results showed that the AK Party needs some serious overhaul and the party has to reset its goals to be able to satisfy the masses and some of the people who voted "no" to the constitutional changes and who were actually former AK Party voters.
So President Erdoğan will spend the summer rejuvenating the AK Party and preparing it for 2018, when a flood of reforms and measures will put Turkey back on the track to become not only one of the leading developing economies of the world, but one of the leading democracies and pace setters of the world.
But the AK Party is not the only political force in Turkey that has realized the changes that are occurring in Turkey at the moment are overwhelming and that it has to make an effort to meet these challenges or face obscurity.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has opposed the constitutional changes and has campaigned strongly for the rejection of the presidential system. After the referendum was approved by the people with a narrow majority, the party did not accept the verdict of the people and sorted ways to legally challenge the outcome. At the end they got nowhere. But there are sensible people in the CHP. Deniz Baykal, former CHP chairman, who also rallied strongly against the presidential system, is a pragmatic and says the party should now put aside its opposition to the presidential system and name its candidate for the presidency in the 2019 elections.
Baykal says he met with party Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and told him that either he should run for the presidency or that the party should hold a convention to name a candidate for the 2019 race. This of course means Kılıçdaroğlu either becomes a candidate or continues running the party or he has to quit and make way for a new party boss who will also become the presidential candidate.
Baykal realizes that you cannot run for the presidency, a position that will give executive powers, without the backing of a political party. This means the president has to prepare a program that will be appealing to the voters with the backing of his party. Let us hope the CHP people see the light that Baykal offers and stop their intransigence which will get them nowhere.
So just like U.S. President Donald Trump being a member of the Republican Party and former U.S. President Barack Obama being elected as a Democrat, our president now has a party affiliation.
This is only normal if the president is required to run a government, set policies and keep the country going.
The presidential powers allowing the president to run his government freely will go into effect in 2019 when the new president and parliament are elected in separate elections on the same date. But the new constitutional changes allow the president to be a party member immediately. So President Erdoğan, at a jubilant ceremony at the AK Party headquarters in Ankara, returned to the party he founded in 2002 and became its member. In late May, probably on the 21st, he will be elected as the chairman of the party in an extraordinary convention.
So his departure from the party in August 2015, after he was elected president by a 52 percent majority by the people, which deeply saddened the AK Party rank and file, is now turning in to jubilation and hope that the "boss" is back and he will rejuvenate the party to become the beacon of hope for the future generations in Turkey.
The referendum results showed that the AK Party needs some serious overhaul and the party has to reset its goals to be able to satisfy the masses and some of the people who voted "no" to the constitutional changes and who were actually former AK Party voters.
So President Erdoğan will spend the summer rejuvenating the AK Party and preparing it for 2018, when a flood of reforms and measures will put Turkey back on the track to become not only one of the leading developing economies of the world, but one of the leading democracies and pace setters of the world.
But the AK Party is not the only political force in Turkey that has realized the changes that are occurring in Turkey at the moment are overwhelming and that it has to make an effort to meet these challenges or face obscurity.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has opposed the constitutional changes and has campaigned strongly for the rejection of the presidential system. After the referendum was approved by the people with a narrow majority, the party did not accept the verdict of the people and sorted ways to legally challenge the outcome. At the end they got nowhere. But there are sensible people in the CHP. Deniz Baykal, former CHP chairman, who also rallied strongly against the presidential system, is a pragmatic and says the party should now put aside its opposition to the presidential system and name its candidate for the presidency in the 2019 elections.
Baykal says he met with party Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and told him that either he should run for the presidency or that the party should hold a convention to name a candidate for the 2019 race. This of course means Kılıçdaroğlu either becomes a candidate or continues running the party or he has to quit and make way for a new party boss who will also become the presidential candidate.
Baykal realizes that you cannot run for the presidency, a position that will give executive powers, without the backing of a political party. This means the president has to prepare a program that will be appealing to the voters with the backing of his party. Let us hope the CHP people see the light that Baykal offers and stop their intransigence which will get them nowhere.