Sleepless in Ankara: The Post-Erdogan Government's Big Challenges
Will the new government be able to pull Turkey out of its slump and mend relations with the West?
Sinan Ulgen
August 4, 2014
Turks are set to head to the polls this August to directly elect a president for the first time in the country’s history. Until now, the president was elected by parliament. The switch to election by popular vote will change the very nature of the president’s role that, despite holding few constitutional powers, was designed to ensure top-level political neutrality and counterbalance the wide scope of the government’s executive authority. The upcoming elections will upend this institutional quasineutrality, impacting both domestic Turkish politics and the country’s regional role.
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