Europe

Europe

Parliamentary commission: Turkish presidentâ€™s term should end 2014

11 January 2012 00:52 (UTC +04:00)

GÃ¼l was elected president, a largely figurehead role, with the support of ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentarians in 2007, but there had been doubt over whether his term would last for five or seven years.

Parliament still has to ratify the recommendation by its constitutional commission.

The change could be significant for the ambitions of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, the most powerful politician in Turkey.

ErdoÄŸan plans to draft a new constitution to replace one framed after a military coup three decades ago, and he reportedly favors moving Turkey to a more presidential-style of government.

There is speculation that ErdoÄŸan wants to become president before his third and final term as prime minister ends in 2015.

The AK, a socially conservative party that sprang from a banned Islamist party, won 50 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election last June, thanks in large degree to ErdoÄŸan’s dominant personality and his success in delivering rapid economic growth.

The parliamentary commission recommends the seven-year term only applies to the current presidency, and thereafter the term should be five years.

Prior to becoming president, GÃ¼l had been foreign minister in ErdoÄŸan’s government. He was the AK Party’s first prime minister after it swept to power in 2002, but he stepped aside when ErdoÄŸan, who had been barred by the courts from contesting the election, won a parliamentary seat in a by-election a year later.

The confusion over the length of GÃ¼l’s presidency stemmed from changes to the constitution made after he was elected by parliament in 2007.

GÃ¼l had been elected for a one-time seven-year term as president, though there were already proposals, subsequently passed in a referendum, that the presidency should be for five years for a maximum two terms.

In the future, Turkey’s president will be elected by the people, instead of the parliament.