Turkey heading toward a new era

It might be an underestimation to say Turkey will become a "peculiar democracy" once Turks approve constitutional amendments, which would provide the country's strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vast presidential powers. Once it enters into force completely in 2019 or at an earlier date, if an early election is called for, the process of Turkey becoming a Middle Eastern-style super presidential regime, with limited or no checks and balances at all, will be completed.

The new era, proponents claim, will bring sustainable stability to the country as the president, elected popularly by the people, will be the head of the executive. He at the same time will continue to have - if he desires - organic links to his party and can even be the leader of that party. Since he and the parliament, where his party might have a majority, will be appointing members of high courts, particularly the High Council for Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), making the president at the same time the boss of the judiciary.

 In any case, his justice minister and undersecretary will be the chairman and vice chairman of the HSYK. Thus, the president as the chief executive, chief legislator and top judge, will be the absolute boss of the country.

Turkey is of course different from Saddam Hussein's Iraq or Muammer Kaddafi's Libya, though the Turkish nation is not much different from the power-worshipping Libyans and Iraqis. When I hear statements from some women saying they'd be willing to be one of the wives of their leader or a deputy in parliament and saying that touching their leader is equivalent to praying, I remember the woman, who was crying in the streets of Iraq, vowing to sacrifice her life for Saddam. As the famous dervish story also says: it is not the sheikh but...