Erdogan’s victory starts debate on next Turkish PM

Turkey’s governing party was debating who should be the country’s next prime minister after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the country’s first popularly elected president in a historic vote.

A three-term prime minister who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, Erdogan has been a divisive figure.

Revered by many as a champion of the people who has steered Turkey to years of economic prosperity, he has been criticised by others for an increasingly autocratic style of governance and for allegedly trying to impose his religious and conservative mores on a nation built on secularism.

Whoever replaces Erdogan as premier would hold the position ostensibly until next year, when a general election is due.

“The party will negotiate the path it will take. It made some deliberations yesterday, there will be more today,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said of the Justice and Development Party meeting.

Erdogan, 60, has vowed to transform the presidency from a largely ceremonial post into a powerful position.

Although a bid before the election to achieve this through a constitutional amendment failed, he has said he will activate the post’s dormant powers — a legacy of a 1980 coup — including the ability to call parliament and summon cabinet meetings.

“Erdogan got what he wanted,” Murat Yetkin, editor-in-chief of the Hurriyet Daily News, wrote in an editorial. “He wanted to consolidate all the executive power in his hands and now he has the chance and capacity for that.”

Unofficial vote tallies by the Turkish media showed Erdogan won about 51.9% in Sunday’s election, with challenger Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu getting 38.3%and Selahattin Demirtas, a young Kurdish politician, getting 9.7%.

In his victory speech on Sunday night, Erdogan struck a conciliatory tone toward critics who fear he is bent on a power grab as he embarks on another five years at the country’s helm.