Amid claims that Turkey has undergone a regime change, Ayhan Oğan, a former member of the Central Decision and Administration Board (MKYK) of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has said a new state has been founded in Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Cumhuriyet daily reported on Friday.
“Now we are founding a new state. Like it or not, the founding leader of this new state is Tayyip Erdoğan,” said Oğan during a program aired by CNNTürk on Thursday evening.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Aytuğ Atıcı reacted against the statement, as other participants of the TV program asked when the AKP had destroyed the Republic of Turkey, which was founded by Atatürk.
Debates over the regime in Turkey have been on the agenda since constitutional amendments bringing an executive presidency were approved in a referendum on April 16.
A ruling AKP deputy, Metin Külünk, said on Jan. 13 that the switch in Turkey to a presidential system would disable the “bureaucratic oligarchy” in the country and take revenge for the last 200 years.
Claiming the Republic of Turkey had come to an end, another AKP deputy, Tülay Babuşçu, said in 2015 that the” 90-year-long commercial break of a 600-year-old empire is now over.”