Introduction

This chapter follows Erdoğan's rise from Prime Minister to President in 2015. It illustrates how a severely compromised democratic system enabled Erdoğan's arbitrary rule to remain unchecked and brought Turkey's dalliance with democracy to an end. Erdoğan as the President maintained his authority over the AKP, despite the constitutional limits placed on his role, which allowed him to remove the remaining divisions of powers between the two arms of the executive – the parliament and the presidential office – in order to increase his dominance over the political landscape. The failed putsch on 15 July 2016 and the subsequent state of emergency imposed on the country led to a de facto one-man regime, which granted Erdoğan key controls over the state. The sweeping powers were used to continue the authoritarian transformation of state institutions. With these events as a backdrop, Turkey was thrust into a referendum on 15 April 2017, handing his office largely unchecked power of the state. These developments reveal that Turkey's descent into an authoritarian system were largely due to Erdoğan's quest to put in place a system serving his autocratic impulses.

Re-shaping the Presidency

In 2014, Erdoğan made the decision to nominate himself for the presidency, although Gül occupied the office and was free to be nominated for a second term. Gül, who was subjected to a campaign of harassment from the AKP, which he lamented as ‘great disrespect from within his own camp’ (Zeyrek 2014), decided not to seek a second term, thus once more stepping aside for Erdoğan (see Sever 2015, 123–29). Until that point, the election of the head of state had rested with the parliament. However, a legal amendment was made whereby the presidential election would now happen by popular vote. The resulting elections on 10 August saw Erdoğan elected as President of Turkey, with 51.8 percent of the vote.