With less than a month to go before the elections, Turkey is now focused on two separate ballot boxes – the parliamentary and the presidential elections. Both will be held on June 24, which will mark the beginning of a new system whereby the executive and legislative bodies will be separated and the Cabinet will not be in plenary sessions of Parliament. The number of ministries will also decrease and Parliament will be able to legislate without the pressure of the executive body. All these are crucial developments in Turkey's political history. 

We are familiar with the new system only on papers but soon we will see how it will actually be implemented. If the legislative and executive bodies can work in coordination and the election will result in a suitable model – one that will expedite development and growth. The president will appoint the ministers, there will be more technocrat ministers and the unstable governments in the parliamentary system will be a thing of the past.

In the run-up to the elections, the opposition front competing against the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is promising to return to the old system. They – the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) in particular – underscore that they will bring the parliamentary system back if they come to power. But they do not explain how. 

The system change was introduced following a referendum. In other words, it was accepted by the majority of the society. Do they want to hold another referendum now? If this is the case, what change will it bring since the electorate has already shown their stance? If they do not want to conduct a referendum, then a major parliamentary support is required for a constitutional amendment, which does not seem very likely, either. In brief, while President Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) present clear electoral promises, the opposition front led by the CHP lacks such clarity.

Another issue I would like to touch upon is the question of Syrian refugees. The AK Party government welcomed and embraced the refugees from the very beginning of the problem. Currently, around 4 million Syrians are in Turkey. With the Syrian civil war in its seventh year, there is no end in sight. A part of the refugees are in camps but a majority has become involved in daily life in Turkey. They work, earn money and have become a component of the economy.

Both the CHP and the newly-founded Good Party (İP) have taken a right-wing stance with regard to this issue. Both parties do not lean towards the integration of the Syrian refugees. The presidential candidates have emphasized this point quite often lately and promised to send the Syrians back to their homeland. Such a discourse contradicts the CHP, which claims to be a social democratic party.

The polls reveal that Erdoğan will win the presidential race by a landslide. But let us assume for a second that the new president is elected from the opposition front. In that case, a great uncertainty will emerge regarding the future of Syrian refugees since a policy pertinent to 4 million people will be altered. These people will meet many challenges while leaving Turkey. Where will they head to? Will Europe review its refugee policy? This does not seem possible considering the discourse of European politicians. In a nutshell, a change in the ruling power in Turkey will surely disturb the balance in Europe's refugee policy.

Of course, there are many other subject matters we need to deal with until the elections. I will try to focus each of them one by one before the election date.