Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey

16 Pages·2017·0.96 MB·English

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Makale Geliş (Submitted) Bilecik Şeyh Edebali Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi Makale Kabul (Accepted)
24.03.2017 Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University Journal of Social Sciences Institute 23.05.2017
Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
Hasan GÖNDER1

Abstract
This study examines the change of the government system that has been discussed for
many years in Turkey and the proposals of transition to the presidential system.
Compilation method for the study, and this issue of scientific books, articles, magazines,
etc. materials used. Work consists of three sections. First, the emergence of the
Presidential System, general characteristics, the pros and cons mentioned. Secondly,
Latin American Countries was examined where president system implemented and had
negative outcomes. Lastly, it discusses the government system in the Turkish
constitution and the problems of Turkish parliamentarism. Besides, in that part of the
study, applicability of that system in Turkey has been discussed.
As a result of the research, it is understood that the political stability problem in Turkey
doesn’t result from the current government system. The case in point cannot be solved
by the change of the government system and application of the presidential system in
Turkey would lead to dangerous consequences.
Key words: Presidential system, parliamentary system, political instability

Başkanlık Sistemi ve Türkiye’ye Uygulanabilirliği
Öz
Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de uzun yıllardır tartışılan hükümet sistemi değişikliği ve başkanlık
sistemine geçiş önerilerini incelemektedir.
Çalışmanın yöntemi derleme olup, bu konuda bilimsel kitap, makale, dergi vb.
materyaller kullanılmıştır. Çalışma üç bölümden oluşmaktadır: Birinci bölümde; başkanlık
sisteminin doğuşu, genel özellikleri, avantajları ve dezavantajlarına değinilmiş, ikinci
bölümde; başkanlık sisteminin uygulandığı ve başarısız sonuçlar verdiği Latin Amerika
ülkeleri incelenmiş, son bölümde ise Türk anayasalarında yer alan hükümet sistemleri ile
Türk parlamentarizminin sorunları ortaya konulmuştur. Ayrıca çalışmanın bu bölümünde,
bu sistemin ülkemizde uygulanabilirliği üzerine değerlendirme yapılmıştır.
Yapılan araştırmalar sonucunda, Türkiye’de yaşanan siyasi istikrar sorununun mevcut
hükümet sisteminden kaynaklanmadığı anlaşılmıştır. Söz konusu sorunun hükümet
sistemi değişikliğiyle çözülemeyeceği ve Türkiye’de başkanlık sisteminin uygulanmasının
tehlikeli sonuçlar doğurabileceği kanaatine varılmıştır.

Anahtar kelimeler: Başkanlık sistemi, parlamenter sistem, politik istikrarsızlık

1 Fudan University, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Department of Sociology, Shanghai/China,
Graduate student, [email protected]
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Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
Introduction America, the implementation of this system
has been unsuccessful in any other countries.
Since the beginning of 1980s, the political
government’s structure has been much The aim of my study is to examine all positive
debated subject both in Turkish academic and negative features of presidential system
and political platform. Some people assert which offered as an alternative to our
that the reason of political deadlock is current governmental system, and reveal the
parliamentary system and can be solved by applicability of the presidential system to
transition to presidential system. In order to Turkey.
evaluate those claims, we scrutinized that
1.The Emergence of the Presidential System,
the reason of political deadlock is our current
General Characteristics, the Pros and Cons
political system or not.
1.1 Definition and Emergence of Presidential
Presidential system showed up with 1787
System
constitution in America continent and since
then just in America, the system Presidency system is the unique system.
implemented successfully. The other Generally, it composes of President,
countries implemented this system, the Congress and Supreme Court. It also called
political stability may change depending on division of power. This system separates
countries’ social and political structures. execution, legislation and judiciary. Although
there is check and balance system such as
Presidential system depends on the solid
between Senate and House of
separation of powers. In the system, there is
Representatives with sharing legislative
equality of arms but in the practice,
power, they cannot dismiss or interfere each
executive organ is more superior than
other.
legislative organ. Being executive organ
Presidential system is a product of human
more powerful, is the biggest factor why to
mind. The constituent assembly gathered in
prefer this system. Yet to implement this
Philadelphia in 1787 and after long
system successfully, needed advance
discussions, this system was created. Basic
democracy and high social level. Otherwise,
features of this system is that unites
the system easily can turn to individual
democracy and individual potency together.
dictatorship. This is the reason why except
The motherland of this system is America
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Hasan GÖNDER
this is the reason why when any country Well known main characters of
wishes to implement this system, firstly they presidentialism are one head of state instead
need to apply to American Constitution. Yet of two heads in the executive brunch. The
all countries who applied, has been receiving fixed tenure of government and firm
different undemocratic consequences. separation of power between three
fundamental organs of state distinguish the
According to Sartori (1994), Presidentialism
presidential system from the parliamentary
is generally defined by three criteria. First,
government.
the head of state is popularly elected

(directly or indirectly) for a fixed time span;
Other main characteristics of presidentialism
second, the parliament can neither appoint
can be stated as follow:
nor remove the government; third, the head

of state is also the head of government (p.
 Popular election for a fixed office time
84-85).
(legislation has little or no control of
1.2 General Characteristic of Presidency the selection process and removal),
System  Presidential control over the selection
and removal of the ministers,
In presidential system there is a strong
 Cabinet members are appointed out of
executive organ. The President represents
the legislative branch,
his nation. Because of s/he elected by
 President has veto power, yet
popular will, his sovereignty came from
legislative branch makes the budget,
people. The president irresponsible on his
 Two separated institutions, mutual
acts and s/he has authority. If someone
checks and balances,
mention about presidential system, s/he
 President has no right to propose
refers to ‘one person’. Presidential system’s
legislation (Mainwaring, 1990: 202-
root came from constitution. Founders of
205).
U.S. constituted several rules and then they

settled their states. Due to this reason,
1.3 Advantages of Presidential System
presidential system has different features
After mentioning the main and the distinct
contrary to others.
characters of the presidential system, we will

focus on how a presidential system has
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Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
positive advantages and functional priorities The assembly is not source and legitimacy of
in the sense of political activities. president and cannot dissolve the president
since citizens directly elect him or her.
First of all, it is clear that one of the
advantages of presidential systems is a Disadvantages of Presidential System
strong and stable government. If we look at In the presidential system like in the
the presidential system in the United States, parliamentary system, there are
it is obvious the system provides a long and disadvantages of the system as well as
stable government. However, we cannot say advantages and positive sides. In this part I
that other countries who applied this system try to summarize and point out some basic
also have similar outcomes like U.S. The disadvantages of the presidential system.
second crucial and significant character of
presidential system is that it addresses the Although those disadvantages are not
broad and the colorful identities and definite, and they are sometimes relative,
provides consensus. In the presidential those interpretations and outlooks should be
system, there is not a coalitional considered for comparing both sides of the
government, so any candidate president medallion concerning presidential system.
should get votes of majority in order to come
to office of presidency. That is why One of the disadvantages of presidential
candidates should be close and address more system is a zero sum game. According to
and more voters in order to gain the Juan Linz (1990), when president gains, he
competition in the election. Another would see himself as the representative of
important character of presidential system is, the majority and accepts every political
it also brings accountability. Finally, direct activity as legitimate (p. 51-69).
election of the president is a significant
character of presidential system in sense of There is an independent way of election by
democracy. Electors have right and the population for the authority of president.
opportunity to determine directly the It is a threat and a risk that may lead the
candidate presidents. Thus, the president is president to do anything as if legitimate.
responsible directly to citizens and the President may turn embodiment of
legitimacy of president comes from citizens. legitimate authority of the citizens. Minority
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Hasan GÖNDER
could be a shadow of political activities in the system there is not any mechanism of
presidential system. accountability. The accountability of the
president is weak and nothing else may be
With zero sum game, the Congress cannot done (p. 38-41).
intervene in the political program of the
president. The authority of the President is Third disadvantage of this system is the
free from the congress. The president is not threat of abuse of power: A despotic
derived of the Congress and would not feel government. All the arguments about the
responsible toward the Congress since it is presidential system in Turkey are generally
not the source of the legitimacy for the based on the abuse of power and despotic
presidential office. president. What they show as examples, are
the presidential models of Latin America.
Secondly, in the presidential system, there is
a peril of the gridlock. According to Juan According to Duverger, if the democratic
Linz, since both organs, the legislature and system is not perfect and has serious
the executive, come to authority with shortcomings, it is too dangerous to have
legitimacy of democratic election by citizens, presidential system. In these circumstances,
it means that both claims to be legitimate the president may make demagogy and act
and may cause chaos and struggle between omnipotently with sole authority, where we
themselves. Linz (1990) claims that it unfortunately see in the Latin and the African
prepares a situation of chaos and uncertainty presidential systems. Duverger (1974) claims
for the legitimacy (p. 84-91). that strong and well developed democracy is
obligatory for a presidential system (p. 58-
According to Lijphart (1992), there are not 59).
necessary and obligatory reasons for the
president to cooperate and take support of Scott Mainwairing (1993) claims that the
the opposition. The constitution defines, presidential system is very open and
accepts and promotes the president with a attractive for despotic governments and that
super power and a sole executive power. is why there are many coups in Latin
Thus, for Lijphart, it is a danger and it leads America. As a result of coups and
the president to act solely. Therefore, in this revolutions, despotic regimes would grow
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Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
and dominate the public and the political life there is no countries to implement this
(p. 202-205). system successfully.

The main difference between American
Like Mainwairing, Arend Lijphart (1989)
presidential system and Latin American
points out that compared to the
countries’ presidential systems are the
parliamentary regime, in the presidential
differences of historical, cultural and social
system there is not a trend and a tendency to
structure.
work and consult the Congress. Moreover,
this leads the president to be stricter and To reflect Latin America’s general political
firm in political issues. However, in a style, I will mention some of countries who
parliamentary regime, political issues are applied this system.
softer and flexible approaches.
2.1 Brazil

2. The Presidential System of Latin American In Brazil, president has executive power and
Countries also has some authority on legislative
activity. In country, there is undisciplined
If we directly look at America where the
multi-party system. Presidents typically take
system existed then in theory, it will be
some constitutional measures to carry out
impossible to see negative sides of the
their policies. Presidents partial veto power
system.
let him to make adjustment on articles.
We can see negative sides of this system by President prepares the budget and Congress
examining Latin American countries. Settled cannot make serious changes on this draft.
political culture and political potency in Latin President can bring back the unapproved
America countries prevent to make this enactment to Congress (Akman, 2007: 187).
system successful and allow us to look this
Apart from that in many subject, president
system in every respect.
can undertake unpolitical and extralegal
Latin American countries imported this applications, especially in federate level,
system and implemented without adapting some of the groups’ support has been used
countries’ conditions. Therefore, armed to the detriment of rivals.
forces sometimes take control of
governments. Within these countries, almost
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The system in Brazil, many times it has been operability provide a good basis (Akman,
deviated undemocratic ways. The reason 2007:191).
was that countries’ federal structure,

presidential tradition, and political favoritism
has been important factor. 2.3 Argentina
2.2 Chile In the general sense, presidential system in
Argentina has been evaluated as the most
In Chile, instability showed up as a major
positive one in the continent.
issue. Presidential system has been applied
for a long time in Latin American countries Argentina is under favor of two strong party
caused many politic depressions. For systems; president gets perpetual support of
president, it has been very hard to manage legislative organ. With this support,
the country. Like in Brazil, president needs president can go into constitutional
various groups support and most of times he modification. With committed constitutional
did not get this support. In the country, there modification, president’s influence on
was shattered party system and there are jurisdiction has been decreased. On the
many minority groups. other hand, on legislative area, president’s
authority has increased on partial veto
According to Chile’s constitution, presidents
power and extraordinary situations
have authority to publish a decree on various
enactments.
subjects. Besides that, presidents have
authority to declare extraordinary situations Most people and experts claim that
and during this extraordinary situation, depressions that Argentina faced so far,
president can restrict political and syndicate originated from economic crisis and they
freedoms. were social depressions. It was not
connected to current political system.
The biggest chance of Chile’s presidential
system, inversely Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and 2.4 Peru
Bolivia, partial party system’s actors are
In the continent, Peru is the only country
strong and relatively institutionalized parties.
who deviates from the democratic ways and
Therefore, for presidential system in Chile’s
the system become undemocratic. President
often adjourns parliament and suspends all
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Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
freedoms. This feature is related to governance for that time period falls into
president’s strong executive function abeyance.
whether or not to adjourn parliament
It should be noted that each presidential
originate from country’s indigenous
system, independent from legal practices
dynamics not presidential system.
and rules, has unique characteristics arising
Peru’s current political and social style from social, cultural and traditional aspects
prevents to settle the democracy. In this of the specific country. Thus, a reductive
manner, this system is prone to turn approach to evaluate systems without
individual potency. To be managed by concerning distinctive features of each
presidential system increases the threat to country can cause misinterpretations in
deviate anti-democratic way. As is seen, In debates. Debates on a presidential system in
Latin America countries presidential system Turkey should be more fact-based and offer
has potential to turn individual dictatorship. reliable information to create a more
Although in some periods, it provided productive platform for discussion.
democratic continuity; in general manner,

coup de main and crisis threatening stay up
to date. Yet, besides preferring this system, 3. DISCUSSION ON POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL
it is also related to government’s habits. SYSTEM IN TURKEY
Even it is obviously known that Latin Discussions regarding the possible political
American countries where managed by system change are going on for some time
parliament democracy, the system will likely and neither side seems to convince the mass
collapse. population with the merits of their
arguments yet. Turkish political system,
As Taha Akyol said (1997), presidents became
which is parliamentarism for a long time, has
dictators in Latin American countries but the
been through hard times for many years and
reason for this was not related to
some of its problems are structural which
presidential system. It is related to its social
means that they cannot be eliminated with
structure.
small changes. It is obviously known that
Due to various regional civil wars and cold since the foundation of the young republic,
war, they attach importance and strengthen Turkey has witnessed three constitutions,
their military forces. Thereby, democratic four military interventions and sixty
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Hasan GÖNDER
governments in eighty years, which proves presidency took its place in Turkish political
that something is not going right. history. The institute was defined and its
powers were determined within the scope of
3.1 Constitutions the constitution. The powers assigned to
In order to understand how the presidency president were rather limited compared to
took its current shape in terms of power and these days. By qualifying the president to the
liability, the change through the historical execution, the constitution actually indicated
process should be studied. Within this scope, that the execution belonged to the
the constitutions of 1921, 1924, 1961 and 1982 assembly.
periods and the law amendment executed in The assembly was the only body using the
2007 carry importance. national sovereignty directly. The
government and president were qualified to
3.1.1 1921 Constitution the legislative power.
The period of transition to the republic was When 1924 constitution is considered, it is
rather painful. When the country’s military observed the president had only symbolic
and political situation of the time are powers. It can be claimed that these
considered, it is figured out why the political symbolic powers were given to the president
structuring was rushed. 1921 constitution as he was an institution of the execution.
gathered executive, legislative and judicial These powers are to preside over special
bodies in one hand in parallel with the ceremonies, signing the laws and vetoing the
requirements of this period. There was not a law, choosing the PM and pardoning power.
head of the state in the assembly (Beceren and Kalağan, 2007: 173).
government founded by this constitution.
Only the Speaker has the representative 3.1.3 1961 Constitution
authority. The speaker was also the head of This constitution was made after the
the cabinet councils (Karatepe, 2013: 225). transition to the multi-party system. The
position of the president became clear. The
3.1.2 1924 Constitution period resulted in loosening the ties of the
The state model was determined in 1924 legislation and execution in this constitution.
constitution. It was moved from assembly 1961 constitution was issued as a reaction
government to parliamentarian system. The against the political problems of the period.
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Presidential System and Its Applicability to Turkey
It was figured out from the powers of the
president that it was a reaction constitution. 3.1.4 1982 Constitution
1961 constitution stated that the sovereignty The president’s power was extended and
is used by the authorized bodies and this power was out of the judicial control. It
president was one of these authorized can be said that in 1982 constitution, it was
bodies (Eroğlu, 1978: 39). desired both strengthen and limited the
The president’s term of office was enlarged constitution. The reason of this dilemma is to
with this constitution and extended to 7 control the tension in the country with a
years. With this amendment, the ties powerful execution and to avoid forming an
between the president and legislation were uncontrolled power that would personalize
loosened (Beceren and Kalağan, 2007: 174). the government with a limited executive
The efforts to strengthen the execution and power (Fendoğlu, 2010: 11).
to move it away from the legislation can be The president has power but it does not
seen clearly in 1961 constitution. The thought allow him to be the only ruler of the
of building a powerful execution started in execution. He needs to have liability in order
that period and in order to manage this, the to broaden his powers. However, president’s
execution should not have taken its power being without liability is a rule. According to
from the assembly. Therefore, in 1961 1982 constitution, the one who is liable is the
constitution while defining the main feature authority. Because of the parallelism
of the presidency institution in articles 97 between the liability and power, president
and 6, this sentence “the president is the cannot perform a political action in every
head of execution and the state” was used situation alone. For this reason, even in
(Eroğlu, 1978: 38). president’s foreign visits, the liable minister
is present along with him (Bilir, 2013: 303-
1961 constitution gave a special place to 305).
president. Besides it was a constitution
aimed at meeting the requirements of its Some people claims that there is a formula to
period. While the president could be a form a military bureaucratic structure instead
member of his party in 1924 constitution, he of a political government determined by
could not be a member of a party in 1961 election. It was discussed from time to time
constitution (Özbudun, 2013: 212-213). in public that the powers given to president
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