After 12 years in power with unprecedented economic success and a replacement oif military with civil authority, Turks are worried that Erdogan, 61, is teetering over the precipice of megalomania.
” The Turkish constitution says the president has to be impartial and to keep out of party politics, but Erdogan has no intention to keep out of the fray. The country is facing a critical poll, he says: “It is unthinkable for me to stay on the sidelines.”” from the Daily Beast.
Now Turkey is voting on overturning its parliamentary system, replacing it with a presidential system. The Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas has called this a “constitutional dictatorship.”Erdogan has not given any details of the sort of presidential rule he has in mind, he is just telling voters they have to give him the parliamentary power to make whatever changes he wants.The move to centralize power comes as an merging Saudi/Turkey alliance may be getting more involved in Syria. “CHP deputy chairman Tekin Gursel warned Erdogan might take even more desperate steps and start a military adventure in Syria in an effort to cash in on a wave of nationalism or postpone the election.”