President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
With Turkey’s elections fast approaching, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shed light on the new presidential system of government late Thursday.
Speaking during a special joint live broadcast on Turkish channel ATV and channel A Haber, Erdogan mentioned what the new presidential system of government will bring.
“We will reduce the number of ministries to 16 in the presidential system of government,” he said.
As another innovation under the new government system, Erdoğan said four significant offices would be established.
“In the first stage, four offices for Human Resources, Investment, Finance and Digital Transformation bear great importance under new model because they are almost the closest staff to the president,” he said.
The president also shed light on the new directorates to be established under the new model.
Turkish military “finished off” 35 key members of PKK terror group in an air operation in Mt. Qandil area of northern Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday."In the second operation [in Qandil], we caught these leaders meeting and we finished off 35 important names there," Erdoğan said during his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s election rally in southeastern Kahramanmaraş province.Turkey has said the presence of terrorist groups near its border constitute a threat, and has launched military operations and other efforts to rid the region of terrorists.Video: Hundreds of thousands of supporters greet Erdoğan in SE TurkeyOperation Euphrates Shield, which began in August 2016 and ended in March 2017, was aimed at eliminating the terrorist threat along the Turkish border with the use of the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish artillery and air cover.On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from northwestern Syria's Afrin region. On March 18, Day 58 of the operation, Turkish troops, and Free Syrian Army members liberated the town of Afrin.On Monday, the Turkish and U.S. forces began patrols in Syria's Manbij in line with a deal which was first announced after a meeting in Washington last week between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Turkey 'has 11 temporary military bases' in north IraqThe Manbij deal focuses on the withdrawal of the PKK-affiliated YPG terror group from the northern Syrian city in order to stabilize the region.Should the model prove to be a success, Turkey will push for a similar arrangement in eastern Syria.In its over-30-year terrorist campaign against Turkey, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives, including those of women and children. The YPG/PKK is its Syrian branch.PYD/YPG will start to leave Syria's Manbij on July 4, says Turkish FMTurkish airstrikes cause serious losses to PKK in Iraq
Erdoğan: 35 key PKK terrorists ‘finished off’ in Qandil
“And also, of course, there are directorates to be affiliated to the presidency, and eight directorates are at stake here,” Erdogan said, naming them as the Directorate of General Staff, Directorate of National Intelligence, Directorate of Defense Industry, National Security Council, Directorate of Religious Affairs, State Supervisory Council, Directorate of Communication and Directorate of Strategy and Budget.
Erdogan also mentioned the changes in the economy under the new system.
“Economy administration will be simplified. We will reduce the number of ministries, which is six now, to three,” he said.
Voters will head to the polls on June 24 -- less than a week away.
Over 3 million Turks living abroad are eligible to vote for the presidential and general elections.
Six candidates are running for president while eight political parties are taking part in the parliamentary elections.
Erdogan has served as president since 2014 -- Turkey's first popularly elected president. Before that, he served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014.
If reelected Sunday, he will be Turkey’s first president under the new presidential system of government, which was chosen by Turkish voters in an April 2017 referendum.