{"id":63504,"date":"2018-04-19T06:04:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T06:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63504"},"modified":"2018-04-19T06:04:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T06:04:04","slug":"erdogan-calls-for-early-elections-in-turkey-citing-need-to-overcome-uncertainties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/erdogan-calls-for-early-elections-in-turkey-citing-need-to-overcome-uncertainties.html","title":{"rendered":"Erdogan calls for early elections in Turkey, citing need to overcome ‘uncertainties’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erdogan calls for early elections in Turkey, citing need to overcome ‘uncertainties’<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday for presidential and parliamentary elections to be held in June, more than a year ahead of schedule, clearing his path to assume sweeping new powers in a matter of months.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a televised speech, Erdogan said early elections would make the country \u201cstronger and more effective\u201d at a time when Turkey is facing \u201cuncertainties,\u201d a reference to the country\u2019s ongoing military operations against Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq. But analysts said Erdogan may also have decided to shorten the electoral timetable because of signs of a worsening economy, a major concern for Turkish voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan is poised to assume the vast new authority under a system of government that voters narrowly approved last year. The changes eliminate the post of prime minister and weaken the parliament while empowering the president to unilaterally issue decrees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan and his allies argued that the changes are necessary to prevent political instability after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. His critics have said the new system dooms Turkey to one-man rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

Complaints about Erdogan\u2019s increasingly authoritarian leadership \u2014 marked by large-scale arrests and a crackdown on independent media \u2014 have also caused friction with Turkey\u2019s allies, including the United States. Washington has called on Turkish authorities to release an American pastor who U.S. officials say was unjustly imprisoned during a purge after the coup attempt.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pastor, Andrew Brunson, is standing trial on terrorism-related charges and faces up to 35 years in prison. His supporters say Turkey is using Brunson as a bargaining chip. Erdogan has demanded that the Trump administration extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania who is described by Turkish officials as the mastermind of the coup attempt.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Turkish president has also said Brunson could be traded for Gulen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s relationship with Erdogan is said to be warm, despite spiraling tensions between their governments. But in a sign that the personal ties may be fraying, Trump complained about Brunson\u2019s treatment in a Twitter post Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPastor Andrew Brunson, a fine gentleman and Christian leader in the United States, is on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey call him a Spy, but I am more a Spy than he is. Hopefully he will be allowed to come home to his beautiful family where he belongs!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though an early vote had been widely rumored, Erdogan\u2019s announcement and the speed of the approaching elections caught Turkey\u2019s political class by surprise, in part because Erdogan had previously denied the poll would be rescheduled. \u201cOur preference has always been to stick to the commitment we gave to our nation and grit our teeth in an appropriate manner until the elections of November 2019,\u201d he said Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough it may look like there is no serious problem because the presidency and the government are working harmoniously,\u201d he added, \u201cwe can be confronted with the diseases of the old system at every step we take.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan also mentioned the country\u2019s military offensive against Kurdish fighters in the Syrian enclave of Afrin, invoking an operation that has stirred nationalism in Turkey and bolstered the president\u2019s popularity. The Turkish military and allied Syrian rebels wrested control of the enclave in March after a weeks-long battle. Turkish officials said the operation was necessary to rid areas near Turkey\u2019s border of Kurdish militants associated with a Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, or PKK.<\/span><\/p>\n

The offensive killed scores of civilians and further fueled tensions with the United States, an ally of the Syrian Kurdish fighters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan, one of Turkey\u2019s most skilled politicians and leader of the Islamist Justice and Development Party, has been adept at exploiting a weak and divided opposition movement. In advance of last year\u2019s referendum, Erdogan forged an alliance with a nationalist opposition party while leveraging the state\u2019s power to keep the rest of the opposition on its heels, including by eviscerating a Kurdish-led party and imprisoning its leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, Erdogan had appeared vulnerable after his razor-thin victory. The measure was defeated in Turkey\u2019s three largest cities and in areas where the president had previously garnered support.<\/span><\/p>\n

Erdogan\u2019s opponents have said the elections are impossible while the country remains under a state of emergency that has granted authorities extraordinary powers to pursue militants and stamp out dissent. The state of emergency was put in place soon after the coup attempt, and parliament extended it for a seventh time Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Turkey\u2019s best-known opposition figures scrambled to react to Erdogan\u2019s announcement Wednesday, a political novice, Levent Gultekin, a well-known columnist and longtime critic of the president, chose the moment to announce his candidacy and focused on complaints about one-man rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey is bigger than you,\u201d he said, addressing the president in a videotaped message. \u201cThe ruling government is usurping the country. To hold an election on June 24 is to say that I already held the elections yesterday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/erdogan-calls-for-early-elections-in-turkey-citing-need-toovercome-uncertainties\/2018\/04\/18\/329b31de-430e-11e8-b2dc-b0a403e4720a_story.html?utm_term=.013771d17637<\/span><\/p>\n

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