ANKARA: Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in again as Turkey’s president on Monday, assuming sweeping powers he won in a referendum last year and sealed in a hard-fought re-election victory two weeks ago.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for 15 years, says the powerful new executive presidency is vital to drive economic growth, ensure security after a failed 2016 military coup and safeguard the country from conflict in Syria and Iraq.
“As president, I swear upon my honor and integrity, before the great Turkish nation and history, to work with all my power to protect and exalt the glory and honor of the Republic of Turkey,” Erdogan told parliament as he took the oath of office.
Supporters in parliament gave him a minute-long standing ovation after he took the oath. Some opposition parliamentarians remained seated while others stood without applauding.
The lira, which gained more than 1 percent earlier on Monday to 4.51 against the dollar, briefly fell back sharply after a government decree removed a clause stipulating a five-year term for the central bank governor. An adviser to Erdogan later said that the governor’s term would remain at five years.
The introduction of the new presidential system marks the biggest overhaul of governance since the Turkish republic was established on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago.
The post of prime minister has been scrapped and the president will now be able to select his own cabinet, regulate ministries and remove civil servants, all without parliamentary approval.
Erdogan’s supporters see the changes as a just reward for a leader who has put Islamic values at the core of public life, championed the pious working classes and overseen years of strong economic growth.
Opponents say the move marks a lurch to authoritarianism, accusing Erdogan of eroding the secular institutions set up by modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and driving it further from Western values of democracy and free speech.
“INSTITUTIONALISED AUTOCRACY“
State television channel TRT broadcast Erdogan’s described Monday’s swearing-in as the “first day of the new Turkey.” It later showed him visiting Ataturk’s mausoleum in the capital, Ankara.
Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, said Erdogan’s new powers would effectively make him a “super-executive president.”
“Most powers will be concentrated in his hands, there will no longer be a prime minister, and almost none of the checks and balances of liberal democracies will be present. In other words, Turkey will be an institutionalized autocracy.”
Erdogan is expected to name a streamlined cabinet of 16 ministers on Monday evening after a ceremony at the presidential palace for more than 7,000 guests, including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.
No major Western leader featured on a list of 50 presidents, prime ministers and other high-ranking guests published by state news agency Anadolu.
NATO member Turkey’s relations with its Western allies have been strained by disputes with the United States over military strategy in Syria and by European Union criticism of Ankara’s large-scale purges of state institutions, armed forces, police and media following the failed coup.
Investors were waiting to see whether cabinet appointees would include individuals seen as market-friendly, and particularly whether Mehmet Simsek, currently deputy prime minister, would continue to oversee the economy.
“For the cabinet appointments in the past several years, the most important issue has been the presence of the current deputy prime minister, Mehmet Simsek,” said Inan Demir, a senior economist at Nomura International.
The lira, which is down some 16 percent so far this year, firmed to its highest level since mid-June before falling back to 4.61 against the dollar. It stood at 4.5570 against the dollar at 1445 GMT.
The currency has been battered by concern about Erdogan’s drive for lower interest rates and comments he made in May saying he planned to take greater control of the economy after the June 24 elections.
Inflation surged last month above 15 percent, its highest level in more than a decade, despite interest rate hikes of 500 basis points by the central bank since April.
Turkey’s Erdogan sworn in with new presidential powers
Turkey’s Erdogan sworn in with new presidential powers
- Erdogan fought referendum and election to win new powers
- EU, others worried by Erdogan's accumulation of powers
Trump says ‘hopefully’ no need for military action against Iran
- US president said he is speaking with Iran and left open the possibility of avoiding a military operation
- An Iranian military spokesman warned Tehran’s response to any US action would not be limited
PARIS: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he hoped to avoid military action against Iran, which has threatened to strike American bases and aircraft carriers in response to any attack.
Trump said he is speaking with Iran and left open the possibility of avoiding a military operation after earlier warning time was “running out” for Tehran as the United States sends a large naval fleet to the region.
When asked if he would have talks with Iran, Trump told reporters: “I have had and I am planning on it.”
“We have a group headed out to a place called Iran, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,” the US president added, while speaking to media at the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania.
As Brussels and Washington dialed up their rhetoric and Iran issued stark threats this week, UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for nuclear negotiations to “avoid a crisis that could have devastating consequences in the region.”
An Iranian military spokesman warned Tehran’s response to any US action would not be limited — as it was in June last year when American planes and missiles briefly joined Israel’s short air war against Iran — but would be a decisive response “delivered instantly.”
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia told state television US aircraft carriers have “serious vulnerabilities” and that numerous American bases in the Gulf region are “within the range of our medium-range missiles.”
“If such a miscalculation is made by the Americans, it will certainly not unfold the way Trump imagines — carrying out a quick operation and then, two hours later, tweeting that the operation is over,” he said.
An official in the Gulf, where states host US military sites, said that fears of a US strike on Iran are “very clear.”
“It would bring the region into chaos, it would hurt the economy not just in the region but in the US and cause oil and gas prices to skyrocket,” the official added.
‘Protests crushed in blood’
Qatar’s leader Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian held a call to discuss “efforts being made to de-escalate tensions and establish stability,” the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
The European Union, meanwhile, piled on the pressure by designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a “terrorist organization” over a deadly crackdown on recent mass protests.
“’Terrorist’ is indeed how you call a regime that crushes its own people’s protests in blood,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, welcoming the “overdue” decision.
Though largely symbolic, the EU decision has already drawn a warning from Tehran.
Iran’s military slammed “the illogical, irresponsible and spite-driven action of the European Union,” alleging the bloc was acting out of “obedience” to Tehran’s arch-foes the United States and Israel.
Iranian officials have blamed the recent protest wave on the two countries, claiming their agents spurred “riots” and a “terrorist operation” that hijacked peaceful rallies sparked over economic grievances.
Rights groups have said thousands of people were killed during the protests by security forces, including the IRGC — the ideological arm of Tehran’s military.
In Tehran on Thursday, citizens expressed grim resignation.
“I think the war is inevitable and a change must happen. It can be for worse, or better. I am not sure,” said a 29-year-old waitress, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“I am not in favor of war. I just want something to happen that would result in something better.”
Another 29-year-old woman, an unemployed resident of an upscale neighborhood in northern Tehran, said: “I believe that life has highs and lows and we are now at the lowest point.”
Trump had threatened military action if protesters were killed in the anti-government demonstrations that erupted in late December and peaked on January 8 and 9.
But his more recent statements have turned to Iran’s nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
On Wednesday, he said “time is running out” for Tehran to make a deal, warning the US naval strike group that arrived in Middle East waters on Monday was “ready, willing and able” to hit Iran.
Conflicting tolls
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,479 people were killed in the protests, as Internet restrictions imposed on January 8 continue to slow verification.
But rights groups warn the toll is likely far higher, with estimates in the tens of thousands.
Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of more than 3,000 deaths, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters.”
Billboards and banners have gone up in the capital Tehran to bolster the authorities’ messages. One massive poster appears to show an American aircraft carrier being destroyed.
