Erdoğan 'considers returning to parliamentary system, appointing son-in-law to lead AKP'

Duvar English

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is reportedly considering returning to a parliamentary system, more than two years after the country voted to switch to an executive presidential system.

"Erdoğan has no chance of getting elected in this system, so he might return to the parliamentary system in order to be elected once again," İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener said.

The President is also considering separating the posts of the presidency and party leadership, sources told Duvar.

Erdoğan, both the president and the leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), may appoint Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also Erdoğan's son-in-law, to lead the AKP.

With the move, Erdoğan aims to create a mechanism that would preserve his power in a way that would allow him to continue his influence over the AKP.

Albayrak has been accompanying Erdoğan in his trips across Turkey in the past couple of weeks in order to make sure that the society accepts him, the sources said.

While many perceive the move to separate the two posts and to appoint Albayrak as the continuation of the "abdication of reason," there are those within Albayrak's team that take it seriously.

Sources following the developments within the AKP told Duvar that such a move would lead to further partition within the ruling party.

Former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who were both among the AKP's founders, resigned from the AKP last year to found two separate parties.

While Davutoğlu founded his Future Party towards the end of 2019, the date that Babacan will found his remains unknown.

According to the sources, lowering the 10 percent election threshold to seven or five percent is also on the government's agenda. The move is being discussed in order to prevent opposition parties from forming a large-scale alliance.