Time to discuss ‘substance’ on presidential system, Erdoğan says

“Turkey is now at another important crossroads. Not only the new parliament and government will be voted on in the upcoming polls. The country’s destiny will also be voted on. Are we going to walk for the ‘new Turkey,’ or we will stay on the ‘old Turkey’ road? This is what we will decide together on June 7,” Erdoğan said in a public rally in the Black Sea city of Samsun on May 18. 

“I ask now: Is Samsun ready for a new constitution? Is Samsun ready for the presidential system?” he asked the crowd. “From this moment, no one can stay indifferent to the will of the public. So we should start to discuss the substance of this system,” he said. 

Erdoğan recalled that the current parliament launched an effort to rewrite the constitution in 2011, so there is “sufficient accumulated knowledge” on how to formulate these changes. 

“You demand the ‘new Turkey.’ You demand the new constitution. You say you are ready for the presidential system. If Samsun agrees on this, that means it is already done,” he said. 

Erdoğan said the change in the constitution and the adoption of a presidential system are important steps to “reaching Turkey’s 2023, 2053 and 2071 goals.” 

He also again claimed the government was under an “organized attack” from a coalition made up of the “terrorist organization” and the “parallel state,” while harshly criticizing the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).