ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party is convening Tuesday for a meeting during which he is widely expected to be nominated for the country’s first directly elected presidential race.
The move could keep Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, at Turkey’s helm for at least five more years.
Erdogan, 60, has been in power since 2003 and is barred by internal party rules from running as prime minister again. The leader, who has presided over Turkey’s economic ascent but has also provoked outrage for the increasingly authoritarian tack he has taken recently, has long been rumored to have presidential ambitions.
The Turkish presidency is a largely symbolic post, and Erdogan has said he favors a system that gives the president more powers.
He failed to muster sufficient support to make constitutional changes for an all-powerful president but has suggested that if elected, he would fully use latent presidential powers, including the right to call Cabinet meetings, so that he can rule Turkey with as much authority as he has enjoyed as premier.
President Abdullah Gul, whose term ends Aug. 28, said Sunday that he would not seek re-election, strengthening the likelihood of Erdogan’s nomination.
Two of Turkey’s main opposition parties – the secular Republican People’s Party and the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party – are fielding Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the soft-spoken former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for the race.
A party championing Kurdish and other minority rights nominated Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas as its candidate on Monday.
It is the first time that Turks will vote directly for their president. Parliament chose presidents in the past. The two-round elections are set for Aug. 10 and 24.
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