Erdoğan to be 'active' Turkish president: Deputy PM

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be an "active" head of state if he wins the presidential election in August and will play a particularly strong role in foreign policy, one of his government's most senior ministers has said.
      
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç signaled that Erdoğan would be a stronger president than previous holders of the hitherto ceremonial post, but insisted he would always act within the framework of the law.        

Arınç said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) wanted to change Turkey's Constitution to potentially enshrine the presidency with more powers, describing the current version as a "no longer valid" relic of a military coup.
      
Erdoğan is the hot favorite to win the Aug. 10 elections, the first time a Turkish president will be elected by popular vote.
      
Describing Erdoğan as a "charismatic and successful" leader, Arınç said there was a "big chance" that he would be elected head of state.
      
"The election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - a strong figure, especially in foreign policy - could have a very big meaning for Turkey and especially for our region," said Arınç, who along with Erdoğan and outgoing President Abdullah Gül was one of the founders of the AKP in 2001.

Previous Turkish presidents, including Gul, have performed largely ceremonial functions, but Arınç indicated that Erdoğan would be a different kind of head of state if elected.
      
"If the prime minister becomes president ... he will certainly be an active president. This is his nature," he said.
      
"His relations with the...