A general survey into presidentship from a party origin in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey evolved into the parliamentary regime with the Fundamental Law amendments in 1909 and the regime in those years functioned in line with representative liberal democracy principles. In the 1982 Constitution too, this system was perpetuated. Even if, with the new amendment, the president will be elected by the public for a fixed term, this amendment does not necessarily mean a disaffiliation from the present system. The system has been exposed to a number of military coups or political crises throughout the history, but it has eventually achieved a certain degree of maturity. Despite all these changes, even after their transition from premiership to presidency, first Turgut Özal and then Süleyman Demirel continued their attempts to keep their former parties under control. In this context, discussions over the adoption of presidential system, which was put forth first by Turgut Özal, have once again brought up to the public agenda prior to the presidential elections to take place in 2014 and in case presidential or semi-presidential system cannot be implemented, the new formula of "a president from a party origin" has been opened to debate. In this study, applicability of the model of "a president from a party origin" in Turkey has been surveyed in the light of these discussions following a brief assessment of the Presidential, Semi-Presidential and Parliamentary Systems. © EuroJournals, Inc. 2012.