Turkey’s Holy War: Relations with European powers deteriorate as one-man government returns, by Robert Ellis.

On April 16 a referendum will be held in Turkey, where voters can decide on constitutional amendments which will remove all cumbersome checks and balances to Erdogan’s power. In his campaign to secure a ‘yes’, Erdogan has admitted he has been planning for such a system since he was mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s. Furthermore, that his plans for an executive presidency will concentrate all power in the hands of one person.

This “Turkish-style” presidential system means Erdogan will have the power to appoint and dismiss ministers and high-level state officials without the need for parliamentary approval. He will also be able to declare a state of emergency, issue decrees, dissolve parliament and call elections without being held to account. The president will not only be head of state but also head of government – the post of prime minister will be abolished, and in effect the judiciary will be subject to his control.

What is particularly alarming, as the Venice Commission (the Council of Europe’s advisory body) has pointed out, the way the new constitution is configured means the president could stay in office for a potentially unlimited period of time. …

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Çavusoglu has warned of “holy wars” in Europe and Erdogan has spoken of a struggle between the cross and the crescent, after the European Court of Justice allowed employers to ban the Islamic headscarf along with other religious symbols. As Turkey is term president of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), President Erdogan also intends to mobilize the OIC against Euro-fascism.

Western style democracy and progress towards a wide dispersal of power in a secular state is being rolled back very fast in Turkey. An Islamic dictatorship with a chip on its shoulders about Europeans seems to be rapidly emerging.

hat-tip Stephen Neil