MILLIYET- Columnist Fikret Bila comments on the situation of Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A summary of his column is as follows:
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer this week asserted that he had the authority to appoint the prime minister. Speaking to journalists at a reception for Republic Day on Tuesday, Sezer said that he wasn’t obligated to appoint to a new government the names suggested by the parties. During the same reception, Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejoined that the president had to appoint the name determined by his party’s official organs, should the AKP win. The question itself arose from Erdogan’s situation, namely that he won’t be able to be elected a deputy. Article 109 of Turkey’s Constitution specifies that the prime minister is appointed by the president from among the members of Parliament. Under this article, the authority of the president on this matter is indisputable. So don’t we have an established democratic practice concerning this? In fact, yes, we do. Although the Constitution gives the president the right to select the prime minister among any deputy that he wants, in practice, presidents have appointed the leader of the party that comes out on top in the elections. This is the established practice in Turkey. So, if the AKP comes first on Sunday, it would be normal behavior under the established practice for the president to appoint the leader of this party to the post of prime minister. However, as the AKP leader cannot become a deputy, he cannot become prime minister either. How can this problem be resolved? Erdogan, whose case at the Constitutional Court concerning his leadership is currently underway, hasn’t stepped down from his party leader post. His name also appears on the ballot. Some even claim that this situation might result in a legal challenge to the outcome of the elections. Erdogan is continuing to resist. He might be considering this stance as a policy which will boost his party’s support. However, after the elections are held and its results tabulated, the AKP can solve this problem. Before the president appoints the prime minister, the AKP can elect the person whom it wants him to become prime minister as its leader in an extraordinary general assembly. In this situation, it would conform with the established practice for the president to appoint the leader of the winning party as prime minister. Insisting, ‘You will appoint this person as prime minister, he’s the one whom we elected as the prime minister’ isn’t a method that Sezer can respect. Until the legal issues are resolved, AKP leader Erdogan can select the person whom his party wants to become prime minister as its leader. Any other solution would only be a source of opposition and tension.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION