Checks, balances a must for presidency, says Deputy PM Arınç

ISTANBUL

“There cannot be a presidential system without an infrastructure, tuning [institutions] and establishing a systems of checks and balances,” said Arınç in an interview to BBC Turkish on April 3. AA Photo

A presidential system without a system of checks and balances would not function properly, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said April 3, wading into a debate spurred by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s unchecked ambition for such a system.

“There cannot be a presidential system without an infrastructure, tuning [institutions] and establishing a systems of checks and balances,” said Arınç in an interview to BBC Turkish on April 3, adding that it would not be right to randomly pick up bits and parts of different presidential systems from various countries and form a presidential system accordingly. 

“We are not to put together the presidential systems we collect from third- or fourth-world countries. There cannot be a presidential system by assembling [the parts],” he said. 
Arınç criticized individuals who categorically object to the presidential system because of the possibility that Erdoğan will become the new president in the presidential system and not because of the structure of the system. 

“You cannot see this as a legal and genuinely democratic opposition in the basis. There is an opposition to a person, being on one’s side or the contrary. In my own thoughts, this is an administration system, a government model,” said Arınç. “It is not right to categorically reject this. What is important is how a country can be better governed.” 

Arınç said they had to establish a presidential system that would operate like a clock, something that would necessitate a new constitution. 

Commenting on Erdoğan’s implicit call on the public to elect 400 ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies in the June 7 polls, Arınç said he did not know which party Erdoğan was seeking votes for.
“Maybe he is thinking about [the main opposition party Republican People’s Party] CHP,” said Arınç, adding that he was not at a point to evaluate the right or wrongness of Erdoğan’s remarks.

Arınç said the prime minister and the head of the AKP, Ahmet Davutoğlu, and his deputy chairpersons were working on the AKP candidates who would be running for parliament during the upcoming general elections. 

‘Emperor has no clothes’

Arınç said he had not yet said “the emperor has no clothes” during his criticism of Erdoğan, but added that there may come a time when that will be said.

“We have been in politics with our president [for a long time]. We are on the same path. Our style, feelings and thought can be different. We have not yet said that ‘the emperor has no clothes’ in all our criticism. Maybe days will come when we will say it,” said Arınç. 

Arınç said they pursued their relationships in a friendly manner but would not let the AKP, the prime minister or the president be ruined in the process. 

Arınç criticized Erdoğan over his comments that he did not approve the formation of a monitoring committee as part of the Kurdish peace process although the government and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) reached a deal on it, terming the president’s remarks on the issue “emotional and personal.”

As the government leading the Kurdish peace bid, Arınç said they also expected the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to officially announce disarmament after a congress in April.

Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, publicized a call on the PKK to hold a congress as soon as possible to discuss the disarmament of the outlawed organization at Nevruz on March 21.

“The process has not been locked,” said Arınç, regarding a question about the rift between Erdoğan and the government over the monitoring committee, adding that the names of the five or six people for the committee were being discussed and that meetings with the people in question were being conducted.