A surprise in the presidential system package?

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) wants a unitary presidential system. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has emphasized this numerous times. Parliamentary Constitution Committee head Mustafa Şentop said it one more time the other day. The proposal will be for the unitary, not a federal, presidential system. 

However, it may also be possible to prevent extreme centralization with a unitary structure. The AK Party worked on this in the past, with Erdoğan previously appointing former MP Ömer Dinçer as a Prime Ministry undersecretary mostly for this reason. 

It looks like that file could be brought down from the shelf and a complete restructuring in the state could now be possible. 

Public administration reform was once one of the biggest dreams of the AK Party. Accordingly, the central state would be downsized and local governments would be strengthened. Powers accumulated in Ankara were to be shared with local governments. However, because of the paranoia over separatism, this was never possible and the AK Party slammed on the brakes. 

The reform was never even properly debated, and ended up stillborn. Erdoğan's determination on maintaining the unitary state structure may now have brought opponents of the federal system on board. His constant repetition of the slogan "One state, One nation, One country, One flag" may have ended fears that a federal system is in prospect. 

Now we have an opportunity. Since the presidential system proposal will be submitted to parliament, it should assure the unitary presidential system but also contain a solution against the extreme centralization of powers and mandates.  

It should downsize the bureaucracy, narrow down the bloated state. The state should be renewed...