Turkey's path to dictatorship
Erdogan’s renewed ambitions to install an authoritarian presidential system in Turkey are raising concerns he might further restrict freedom of the press and open a path for a dictatorship.
Armed with his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) stunning Nov. 1 election victory, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is revisiting his goal of replacing the country's parliamentary government with an executive presidency.
In the previous elections, held June 7, the rival Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) emphasized and berated Erdogan's intentions. “We won’t let you become an executive president!” was the main slogan the pro-Kurdish HDP used then. It was perhaps the most memorable slogan of the entire election campaign. The message was so influential that the HDP mustered 13.2% of the vote, backed by a remarkable number of voters who chose to support the party for the first time. Those people apparently were worried that an HDP failure to obtain the 10% national threshold would give the AKP a super-majority in parliament and allow it to change the constitution to install a presidential system.
