President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Remark For Incorporated Turkey Uncalled For

0
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The recent remark reportedly credited to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the effect that Turkey should be administered like an incorporated company is, to say the least, uncalled for.
Besides the fact that the administration of the state and that of the running of an incorporated company are two different things and systems, it is worrisome when leaders think less or nothing about the implication(s) of their public utterances.
For clarity, it must be stated that there is a great deal of difference between a state and a company. Whereas a state (which is also known as a country) is considered to be a definite entity where law and order are maintained within a defined boundary by a supreme authority; a company, on the other hand, is defined according to Oxford Advanced Learner?s Dictionary as ?a business organisation that makes money by producing or selling goods and services.? In view of the above, it is clear that President Erdogan?s reported pronouncement that Turkey should be administered as an incorporated company is completely misplaced.
Therefore, if that Erdogan?s thinking that Turkey be administered as an incorporated company, owned by a collection of certain number of persons (known as the shareholders), is to be construed from the prism of power politics, would it be wrong to say that his motive is imbued with something sinister? Better still, will it be a misplaced perception to submit that Erdogan?s continuous advocacy for Turkey to adopt a presidential system of government is not devoid of his personal intent to acquire more powers? Whatever the answers, they can hardly cease to be contentious too. However, bearing in mind that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely, there is no doubt that getting Turkey to embrace either of these propositions by Erdogan would not augur well for the country.
Hence, for deputy chairman of Turkey?s Nationalist Movement Party parliamentary group, Oktay Vural, what President Erdogan?s proposition that Turkey be run as a business outfit portends is that the country should be governed as a family enterprise. And regarding his motive for adoption of a Presidential system, Vural believes that Erdogan merely wants to acquire and exercise absolute power. For Haluk Koc, the depuy Chairman of Republican Peoples Party, what Erdogan wants is for the people to give him the whole of Turkey to be run like a business outfit in order to hijack all sources of revenue in the country, according to Today?s Zaman Newspaper report of March 16, 2015.
But beyond the foregoing, the concern is: looking at the high rate of violations of human rights abuse allegedly being perpetrated by President Erdogan?s government, what will be the fate of Turkey should the Presidential system of government be ultimately adopted? Truth is that there appears to be no fundamental difference between Erdogan?s concept of running the country along the line of a company and his understanding of Presidential system of government. Unarguably, it is Erdogan?s belief that the current parliamentary system of government in Turkey does not allow for quick decision-making and so creates room for what he calls ?multiheadedness? in governance.
But then, it is unlikely that creating real executive powers of the president in Turkey as engendered in the presidential system would augur well for the citizens in the exercise of their inalienable rights. The reason for this is not far-fetched. For instance, if the Turkish journalists could be so arbitrarily arrested and detained as is being reported in the media, then clamour by Erdogan and his Justice and Development Partyled government for the adoption of a presidential system leaves much to be desired.
In fact, this raises more concerns considering the AK Party and President Erdogan?s preference for a unicameral legislature to a bicameral chamber. This mainly accounts for why analysts strongly believe that adopting a presidential system of government in Turkey now or in the nearest future is capable of breeding a conducive ground for a switch to a more authoritarian regime.
What is more, it is obvious that administering Turkey as an incorporated company will definitely undermine the whole essence of democracy which avails the people that periodic opportunity to decide on what is good for them. Incidentally, this same democracy provided President Erdogan and his AK-party access to power. And since democracy allows for the will of the majority to prevail as opposed to a company where the will of the shareholders holds sway, Turkey cannot therefore be administered as a company.

Send your news stories to [email protected] Follow News Ghana on Google News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here