In a rare development, Turkey’s Constitutional Court has made two decisions curtailing presidential powers to appoint university rectors and to replace central bank governors, according to a statement from the court.
In its decision concerning the appointment of rectors, the court cancelled the articles of a government decree issued during a state of emergency imposed after a failed coup in 2016 that granted the president the power to appoint university rectors.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in October 2016 canceled the intra-university elections that used to be held to elect university rectors. That position is now directly filled by the president. The government decree also cancelled some criteria governing appointment as a university rector.
According to the previous system in Turkey, universities held their own elections, but the ultimate decision lay with the president. Erdoğan insisted that the abolition of the election system would be beneficial for the country.
The move attracted widespread criticism in that it eliminated the autonomy of universities.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) challenged the relevant government decree at the top court.
According to the Constitutional Court’s decision, it is impossible to talk about the autonomy of a university when the power to appoint rectors is granted to the president alone and the relevant criteria required to become a university rector, such as serving as a professor at a university for at least three years, are eliminated.
The court said the criteria for entry to public service in relation to the appointment as a university rector cannot be changed through a government decree and is outside the scope of a government decree, hence unconstitutional.
The court’s decision will come into effect in a year.
Since the controversial practice went into effect in October 2016, Erdoğan has appointed dozens of university rectors which in some cases led to widespread protests among students and academics.
For instance, the prestigious İstanbul-based Boğaziçi University witnessed such protests when Erdoğan appointed pro-government figures as rectors in 2021.
University staff members have been standing since then with their backs turned to the rectorate building every day in protest of the presidentially appointed rectors.
Appointment of central bank governors
The Constitutional Court’s other decision concerning the replacement of central bank governors suggests that the president’s authority to replace a central bank governor before the end of their term contravenes the constitution.
This had also been facilitated by a government decree.
Central bank governors are appointed for a period of four years. Erdoğan has frequently replaced central bank governors in past years due to what many say were his attempts to target the bank’s independence and his conflicts with the governors about the bank’s economic policies.
For instance, none of the central bank governors have been able to serve their full term in office since 2016. The bank’s current governor, Fatih Karahan, is the sixth executive in the position since April 2016.
Erdoğan had spent years pressing the nominally independent bank to slash borrowing costs out of a life-long belief that high interest rates cause — rather than cure — inflation.
He filled his government with market-friendly officials after winning a difficult May election that took place amid one of Turkey’s most dire economic crises in decades.