ISTANBUL, Turkey— Turkey’s Kurds and Shiite Alevis will most likely be increasingly targeted if the country approves the constitutional amendments which secures the president unprecedented executive powers, according to a prominent Alevi lawmaker with the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP).
Muhsin Dogan told Rudaw Wednesday that neither the Kurds nor the Alevis will benefit from a presidential system where the parliament has fewer powers of checking the executive branch.
“The Kurds and Alevis have no interests in the amendments, since if the government succeeds to amend the constitution, it will also increase its attacks on both groups (Kurds and Alevis),” Dogan said adding that his party will campaign for a No vote on the referendum day set for April 16.
With a population of between 15 to 20 million, the Alevis seem to have sufficient electoral power to derail the amendments when coupled with the Kurdish votes and those of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) which have sided against the constitutional amendments.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Nationalist Movement’s Party (MHP) helped ratify the new draft constitution in the parliament last September with 339 votes for, 9 votes more than needed to put the draft to public vote.
The constitutional reforms, which number 18 articles in total, aim to found a presidential system in place of the current parliamentary system. If approved by the Turkish voters on April 16, it may pave the way for President Erdoğan to stay in power until 2029 as he would have the right to stand in the presidential elections for two more terms under the new constitution.
Critics say the amendment will lead the country towards authoritarianism as the president of the republic will have constitutional powers to appoint and remove cabinet ministers.
“It’s not really an ordinary election with party agendas on the ballots,” said political activist Tuncer Bas, head of the Haci Bektase Weli Society in Istanbul.
“Everybody should turn out and let their voice be heard against the amendments, regardless which party they feel affiliated to,” Bas told Rudaw.
Latest opinion polls in February show that nearly one in five voters have yet to decide which camp they will support on referendum day.
The constitutional amendments give the president the power to propose the country’s annual budget to the parliament, and replace Turkey’s Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors with a new body of just 13 members, three of whom would be named by the president, while the rest would be elected by the parliament, chaired by the justice minister under the new name of the Judges and Prosecutors’ Council.
It also allows for the president to maintain ties to a political party. President Erdoğan was obliged to officially give up leading the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) when he became president in 2014, in line with the current constitution.
