Ümit Özdağ, a deputy who was expelled from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said on Wednesday that with constitutional amendments which will establish an executive presidency in Turkey, an Erdoğan republic is being formed and that “the Republic of Turkey as we know it will end.”
The Cumhuriyet daily reported that Özdağ said the executive presidency will concentrate power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Özdağ also claimed that the executive presidency actually aims to bring a federal system to Turkey and divide the country. He argued that a team drafted the changes along with imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan.
Özdağ said that no citizen of Turkey who would say yes to the proposed changes could be considered a Turkish nationalist.