LOOPHOLE

Erdogan Nominated for Turkish Presidency

To avoid term limit.

Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found a clever way around term limits. Under his party’s rules, Erdogan is prohibited from running for prime minister again. However, the AK Party announced Tuesday that Erdogan would be their candidate for Turkey’s first ever directly elected presidency. That position is largely symbolic, but it is suspected that Erdogan would significantly expand its powers. He failed to gather enough support for a constitutional change to officially increase the political power of the president, but he has made comments suggesting he would claim latent powers to rule Turkey pretty much the same way he does as prime minister. Erdogan has been leading the country as prime minister since 2003. He has been accused of being less than respectful of democratic institutions and citizens’ rights, including blocking Twitter this year.