With his popularity plummeting, Turkey's president Ragab Tayyeb Erdogan is facing the prospect of defeat for the first time since his rise to power in 2002. As recent polls show.
Shockingly, the Turkish President seeks to change the Constitution that has already been changed 19 times and most recently in 2017 when it changed from a parliamentary system to an executive presidential system.
The last amendment eliminated the post of Prime Minister and concentrated most of the powers in the hands of the President, despite strong objections from critics and opposition parties which criticized the move as a "one-man regime".
According to analysts, Erdogan's call for the drafting of a new constitution was basically made to ban the Kurdish-led Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), allegedly for having ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated by Turkey and the US as a "terrorist organization."
However, the purpose for which Erdogan is changing the constitution is to rewrite the rules yet again in his own favor. It's also to divert attention from swelling discontent over high prices, mounting poverty and unemployment, and endemic corruption.
Furthermore, the opposition has recently been strongly pushing for holding early elections and a return to parliamentary democracy after the presidential system battered the economy.
Rights groups believe that the proposed change presents concerns for human rights with the possibility that Erdogan may use constitutional reform to further cement his power and crackdown on his opponents.
The proposal signaled Erdogan's losing of public support and popularity that has been waning since he unleashed a sweeping crackdown after surviving a failed coup in 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment