The Challenge of à la Turca Presidentialism in Turkey

GTE Commentary (Istituto Affari Internazionali) No. 18, November 2014

by Ersin Kalaycioğlu *

What confronts Turkey is not a choice between presidential versus parliamentary democracy, but an electoral authoritarianism of à la Turca presidentialism versus some form of parliamentary democracy. Much hangs in the balance for the future of democracy, rule of law, and liberal capitalism in the next national legislative elections. The answer to whether Turkey becomes an authoritarian presidential regime albeit with a popularly elected government lies essentially in whether the AKP wins enough seats in the 2015 legislative election.

Document prepared for the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in the context of the IAI-Istanbul Policy Center-Mercator Foundation project « Turkey, Europe and the World », November 2014.

* Ersin Kalaycioğlu is Professor at Sabanci University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

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