Epress.am News from Armenia
A parliamentary commission recommended on Tuesday that Turkish President Abdullah Gül’s term should expire in 2014, in a move to end confusion over the duration of his term, the state run Anatolia news agency reported.
Gül was elected president, a largely figurehead role, with the support of ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) parliamentarians in 2007, but there had been doubt over whether his term would last for five or seven years.
Parliament still has to ratify the recommendation by its constitutional commission.
The change could be significant for the ambitions of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the most powerful politician in Turkey, reports Today’s Zaman.
Erdoğan plans to draft a new constitution to replace one framed after a military coup three decades ago, and he reportedly favors moving Turkey to a more presidential-style of government.
There is speculation that Erdoğan wants to become president before his third and final term as prime minister ends in 2015.
The parliamentary commission recommends the seven-year term only applies to the current presidency, and thereafter the term should be five years.
Prior to becoming president, Gül had been foreign minister in Erdoğan’s government. He was the AK Party’s first prime minister after it swept to power in 2002, but he stepped aside when Erdoğan, who had been barred by the courts from contesting the election, won a parliamentary seat in a by-election a year later.
The confusion over the length of Gül’s presidency stemmed from changes to the constitution made after he was elected by parliament in 2007.
Gül had been elected for a one-time seven-year term as president, though there were already proposals, subsequently passed in a referendum, that the presidency should be for five years for a maximum two terms.
In the future, Turkey’s president will be elected by the people, instead of by parliament.