One hundred forty-three members of an initiative established by the alumni of Turkey’s oldest political science faculty issued a statement on Monday criticizing a constitutional amendment package that would introduce an executive presidency in the country if approved in an upcoming referendum.
The initiative, called ’68 Kuşağı Mülkiyelileri, comprising former politicians, academics and activists, said in the statement that the proposed changes are even more drastic than the Ottoman sultanate as they would concentrate power solely in the hands of the president.
The statement, which was published in the small Evrensel daily since almost all major media outlets have been silenced in Turkey, said the president will have no accountability to the people if the changes are approved in the referendum.
The 143 alumni of Ankara University’s department of political science, which is often referred as “Mülkiye” in Turkish, directed attention to the “fait accompli” of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and said that such a change in system would end the unitary rule of law.
The full list of signatories is as follows:
Macit Akman, Sudi Kocaimamoğlu, Uluç Gürkan, Erkan Oyal, Baskın Oran, Mustafa Kemal Çamkıran, Muharrem Kılıç, Hüner Tuncer, Murat Karayalçın, Hüseyin Bölükbaşı Ünan, Coşkun Günhan, İstemihan Talay, Aslan Sonat, Firuz Demir Yaşamış, Sami Urfalı, Tayfun Kalkan, Cüneyt Tunca, Çağlar Ünal, Ahmet Öziş, Kenan Yüksel, Ata Murat Kudat, İlham Küsmenoğlu, Narin Coşar, Engin Türker, Mustafa Özgen, Tuba Kayahan Ayberkin, Nazime Gürkan, Doğan Tuncer, Aslan Eren, Nezahat Eren, Nurcan Aktürk, Akın Evren, Onur Arı, İbrahim Özkartal, Cengiz Şenocak, Sahir Koçak, Emin Erdem, Nesrin Kaya, Nejat Kumbasar, Köksal Bağdu, Zerrin Edipoğlu, Mustafa Pekdemir, Nadir Önen, Yener Kalyoncu, Zeki Güngör, Doğan Yaşar Ayhan, Tahir Göksoy, Altay Utkan, Kevser Abışgil, Yurdakul Alpay, Sönmez Özyürek, Akın Erkan, Fırat Topçuoğlu, Latife Büyüktaşkın, Şener Büyüktaşkın, Mustafa Kırcı, Emine Öztekin, Zeynepgül Özşen, Andaç Atak, Kemal Tosyalı, Zeynep Akıncı, Mehmet Ali Çatal, Necat Olcay, Mustafa Polat, Hayri E. Özen, Ömer Ali Bostancıoğlu, Muhammet Atmaca, Ülfet Cinbiş, Cüneyt Akalın, Ali İhsan Hasıcıoğlu, Erol Özgürel, Akın Ergüden, Hayat Apak, Savaş Aldoğan, Önder Sezer, Ünal Er, Hülya Özün, Demet Kayıran, Süleyman Coşkun, M.Savaş Özkan, Hasan Kalaycı, Mehmet Şadi Ander, Aysel Aslansan, Yüksel Erdoğmuş, Taşkın Karaca, Gülbün Kocaimamoğlu, Asuman Yücel, Eray Günay, Emel Uygur, Ender Nitas, M. Kemal Mısırlıoğlu, Ülkü Atabey, Savaş Sönmez, Necil Nedimoğlu, İsmail Yedidal, Yalçın Saraçoğlu, Çınar Aldemir, Noyan Aydınoğlu, Kuday Genç, M. Kemal Öke, Demir Erman, Lale Alev Ertem, Meriç Havva, Tuğrul Bilen Ünal, Ümran Timur, Aysel Eryamaç Deligönül, Ayhan Sağocak, Hale Boysal, Osman Alpak, Mine Emine Alpak, Erhan Tezgör, Ahmet Semih Bilgin, Şule Soysal, M. Arif Toraganlı, İbrahim Dinç, Hayri Muşlu, Turgay Bilgin, Sami Tezveren, Fahri Uzunefe, Berati Arısoy, Belma Güner, Kürşat Abakay, Erdoğan Gerçel, Bülent Akyavuz, Oğuz Akhan, Nedret Uluğbay, Sezer Türktan, Kemal Danacı, Hasan Eskil, Mehmet Buçukoğlu, Rıfkı Güngör, Gülizar Baggson, Funda Tezok, Arif Özsaygı, Yılmaz Özin, Aysel Özkan, Neşe Kılıç, Samiye Ayder, Engin Alev Alpkan, Mehmet Yıldırım, Ersal Yazgan, Gönel Şahin and Ahmet Özdemir.