Foreign policy for Erdogan unattainable road

Millions of Turks will head to the ballot boxes on 24 June to transform the country from a parliamentary system to that presidential one.

“Developments in Syria and elsewhere have made it urgent to move into the new executive system in order to take steps for the future of our country in a stronger way”, Erdogan told reporters in Ankara last month.

The vote will end the current phase of transition between the two systems and ease mass power in the hands of the new president.

Erdogan, who is projected to win, has made very clear his desire to move from a parliamentary system to that presidential one, reports “Alzeera”, the Periscope broadcast.

Along with the ruling party AK, he argues that a new model, similar to an executive American or French presidency, will allow for strong decision-making.

A series of issues are expected to challenge Erdogan's new leadership as: the security threat from the Kurdish armed group (PKK); the clash of interests with the United States in northern Syria; the extradition of Fetullah Gulen; Turkey's bid to join the European Union; Iran's influence in the region; the unresolved conflict in Cyprus; and its relations with Egypt, Israel, Libya and Yemen.

Turkey's current case with its southern neighbour stands in sharp contrast to their relations just a decade ago.

After its establishment in power in 2002, the AK Party created a foreign policy “zero problems with neighbouring countries”.

Fatma Benli, an Istanbul-based MP with the AK Party, says Turkey was among the first of 128 countries to reject the US decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Erdogan's opponents accuse him of pursuing a policy driven by ideology and expansionist with ambitions to lead Turkey, which was once the seat of an Islamic empire, to become a Muslim power. /Periscopi/