Brave New Turkey

At first sight it seems that Turkey has turned into a great play of political vaudeville theater. Most recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that he will chair Cabinet meetings after he was elected head of state. After a period of speculation, the president finally said the last word as usual and declared that he would chair a Cabinet meeting in the Presidential Palace on Jan. 19. Nobody knows the feelings of the prime minister concerning this fait accompli but after all, it is not a personal issue but another example of the transformation of the political regime in Turkey. According to the Constitution, the president can chair Cabinet meetings when the necessity occurs, but this has not been the political tradition. Nevertheless, Erdoğan does not need to justify or legitimize his deeds, since he considers himself the source of legitimation, as Turkey's political system turns into a one-party, one-leader regime. It is Erdoğan and the ideology of the governing party which is supposed to define the "just and unjust" and the "good and the evil;" this is now a "Brave New Turkey" in the making.

The latest crises between the strongest business union, TÜSİAD, and the president can also be seen in this light. TÜSİAD Chairman Haluk Dinçer became the latest target of Erdoğan's anger after he stated that their addressee is the prime minister, not the president, even if Dinçer's statements were not in critical terms. In fact, the real problem seems to be about Dinçer's criticism concerning the judicial system and his soft opposition to the presidential system. Erdoğan declared that he would not attend TÜSİAD's meetings and right after the declaration of a presidential boycott, the prime minister duly declared his own. Despite the fact that the prime...