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Turkey's Erdogan presides over cabinet meeting

Xinhua, January 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan weighed his influence on the cabinet and presided over a meeting with ministers at the Presidential Palace here on Monday.

This was the first time for Erdogan to use his power to call and chair a cabinet meeting since his election as president last August.

Though also used by former presidents, the power to call cabinet meetings this time has additional symbolic importance, amid debates over transforming Turkey's current parliamentary system to a presidential system.

Erdogan is seen as a strong proponent of a presidential system.

In his meeting last week with leaders of the parliamentary group of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan complained of a lack of effective consultation between him and the cabinet.

"We need the consultation and harmony from the presidential system between the president and the prime minister," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.

"Otherwise, it would be a duality on the top of the state," he said.

Parliamentary elections scheduled for next June will be critically important to the perceived transformation from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.

If Erdogan's AKP wins enough seats in parliament, such a transformation will become more likely. Endit