ANKARA (Middle East Eye/Xinhua) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to introduce a new constitution to replace the current one, as he officially began a new five-year term as the Turkish head of state.
In his inauguration speech at the presidential palace, Erdogan said the current constitution was “a product of the (1980) coup” and that it needed to be replaced with “a libertarian, civil and inclusive one” that would strengthen democracy.
The current Turkish constitution was introduced in 1982 and has been amended 19 times since then. The last amendment in 2017 introduced a presidential system and abolished the parliamentary system.
Erdogan, sworn in by the country’s parliament for a third term as president earlier on Saturday, also said the country had set foot on a new path and was entering what he called the “Century of Turkey,” urging the Turkish people to “transcend the limitations of election-focused discussions” and “turn their gaze toward the future.”
Erdogan won 52.18 percent of votes in the presidential runoff on May 28 against his rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the center-left Republican People’s Party.
The president, who has been leading the country since he became prime minister in 2003, became the first executive president of Turkey in 2018 following a constitutional referendum in 2017 which changed Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential one.
Erdogan announced a major reshuffle in his cabinet, appointing new ministers for foreign affairs, treasury and finance, defense and vice president.
Hakan Fidan, who has been at the helm of the National Intelligence Organization since 2010, assumes the role of foreign minister. The 55-year-old new top diplomat is considered one of Erdogan’s closest confidants.
The new treasury and finance minister is Mehmet Simsek, who served as finance minister and deputy prime minister from 2009 to 2018. Simsek is a respected economist who is seen as a safe pair of hands in the turbulent Turkish economy.
Simsek, an advocate of conventional economics, is highly regarded by the financial markets after serving as finance minister and deputy prime minister between 2009 and 2018.
His appointment is aimed at tackling Turkey’s cost-of-living crisis and could set the stage for interest rate hikes in the coming months, which could mark a turn around from Erdogan’s longstanding policy of slashing rates despite soaring inflation.
Yasar Guler, who previously served as the chief of general staff, takes on the role of defense minister.
The new vice president is Cevdet Yilmaz, who previously served as deputy prime minister and development minister.