Turkey’s outgoing prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was yesterday sworn in as president, as opponents who accuse him of authoritarianism after more than a decade in power walked out of the ceremony.
Erdogan, 60, took the oath in Ankara to begin a five-year mandate in which he has vowed to build a “new Turkey” by pushing through a new constitution and driving on with an ambitious development program.
Deputies of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who accuse Erdogan of violating the constitution, noisily walked out of parliament just before he was sworn in.
Photo: Reuters
Erdogan has made it clear he wants to wield genuine executive power as president after becoming the first directly elected head of state, taking 52 percent of the vote in the Aug. 10 poll.
His recent predecessors in the Cankaya presidential palace performed a largely ceremonial role.
The election was a triumph for Erdogan — who first became prime minister in 2003 — after surviving a tumultuous period last year that saw mass anti-government protests and corruption allegations against his inner circle.
He took over as president from Abdullah Gul, a former close comrade and cofounder of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who appears now to have fallen out with the feisty Erdogan and is expected to play no role in the next government.
Heads of state from a dozen nations in Eastern Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East attended the ceremony, the Anatolia news agency reported.
However, leaders of top Western states were conspicuous by their absence in a possible sign of suspicion toward Erdogan’s strongman tendencies.
The US is only sending its charge d’affaires in Ankara, in what some commentators have seen as a clear snub. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had to cancel his trip due to the advance of pro-Russian forces in the east of his country.
A man clearly with his eye on history, Erdogan’s five-year presidential term means he will have ruled Turkey longer than its modern founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who established the republic out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.
He can serve two mandates and so could theoretically stay in power until 2024, which would allow him to see in the 100th anniversary of modern Turkey in 2023, and portray himself as a historic figure to rival Ataturk.
“The birthday of a new Turkey,” headlined the staunchly pro-Erdogan Yeni Safak daily.
Erdogan has made it clear he wants to press on with a mind-boggling program of infrastructure projects, including a mammoth new airport in Istanbul, a new canal to divert shipping from the Bosphorus and a high-speed rail network for the whole country.
Taking his oath of office, Erdogan swore to “abide by the Constitution, the rule of law, democracy, the principles and reforms of Ataturk, the principles of the secular Republic.”
However, opponents have accused Erdogan of seeking to undermine Ataturk’s legacy with authoritarian tendencies and imposing a creeping Islamisation of society.
Controversially, he wants parliament to change the constitution after the legislative election next year to invest the presidency with more powers.
“We are faced with a man who places himself above the law and does not abide by any rule, but this kind of mentality is unacceptable,” CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said.
Under Turkish law, the president should sever all ties with political parties — but Kilicdaroglu said Erdogan had no intention of distancing himself from the AKP.
“This is a clear attack on the state’s honor and dignity,” Kilicdaroglu said.
Taking over Erdogan’s post of prime minister is former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, 55, a long standing ally who is expected to do little to challenge the Turkish number one.
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