Society, Politics, and Economy in Modern Turkey: Sociology of Turkey - Maintained by Tugrul Keskin
We are at a point in our work when we can no longer ignore empires and the imperial context in our studies. (p. 5)
― Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism

Friday, October 30, 2015

Turkey Votes: Heading into a Familiar Deadlock?

The Atlantic Council’s Aaron Stein says second round of voting is unlikely to produce a clear winner

By Ashish Kumar Sen

ATLANTIC COUNCIL - October 29, 2015 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not be on the ballot in the Nov. 1 elections, yet the vote is in many ways about him.  Turks will participate in their second election in five months after the previous round on June 7 failed to give any single party a majority and subsequent attempts at forming a coalition proved fruitless.  Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, known by its Turkish acronym AKP, suffered a significant setback in the June vote losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in thirteen years.  Erdoğan has been firmly in control since 2003—first as Prime Minister, and since 2014 as President. He wants to rewrite the constitution and transform Turkey from a parliamentary into a presidential form of government—thereby vesting more powers in himself.  Erdoğan has been firmly in control since 2003—first as Prime Minister, and since 2014 as President. He wants to rewrite the constitution and transform Turkey from a parliamentary into a presidential form of government—which would give his post more power.  However, those plans were spoiled by simple math. AKP needed to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament to enable it to rewrite the constitution and pass it out of parliament without a referendum. It won only 258 seats in June, short of the 367 needed.

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