Who will be the boss?

Under the Turkish Constitution, the moment a candidate is elected president he is no longer a parliamentarian and should sever all ties with political parties, as the president ought to be above party politics. Because under the Constitution the prime minister must be a parliamentarian, continuing in the prime ministry after being elected president cannot be on the cards anyway.

The Supreme Electoral Council president announced on Sunday night, Aug. 10, that “one candidate” won more than the required majority, so the process to elect the president was completed and there would be no run-off on Aug. 24. President-elect Erdoğan has since placed ads in pro-government media, thanking those who voted to elect him as president. His party has started preparations for an extraordinary convention on Aug. 27 to elect his successor as party leader (and prime minister). But Erdoğan, his party, and the allegiant media defend that until he swears in on Aug. 28 he can legally remain prime minister. That means that Erdoğan wants to administer (and indeed de facto conduct) the succession process in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Even the Aug. 27 convention decision was decided by Erdoğan and revealed that he did not want President Abdullah Gül to return to the AKP once he has left the presidency. Why? He wants to see an AKP leader and prime minister who can be easily remote-controlled or, as is said, someone who he can easily lord it over.

Under the current system the prime minister has all the powers and the presidency has some symbolic functions in governance. Therefore, it has been quite easy for Erdoğan to lord it over Gül for the past seven years. Anyhow, Gül very rarely used his veto power, most of the time...