"Problems of the Parliamentary System in Türkiye" Discussed at the School of Politics

The tenth week of the School of Politics program organized by the Bahçeşehir University School of Government and Leadership continued with the valued participation of AK Party Deputy Group Chair Mahir Ünal, Bahçeşehir University faculty member Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Esmer, Marmara Group Foundation Chair Dr. Akkan Suver, Kocaeli Member of Parliament Prof. Dr. Hurşit Güneş and Yeditepe University faculty member Prof. Dr. Mesut Hakkı Caşın. The topics addressed were leadership in politics, democratic culture, a global view of Eurasia, the problems of the parliamentary system in Türkiye, the Arab Spring and the Russian elections.

Mahir ÜNAL:

"A politician either speaks day to day based on assumptions, or adopts a genuine vision, a mission for himself and an important position in line with it. Politics must be based on reality. Reality is subjective and limited to what the other person understands. If this personal value is misunderstood, it can have bad consequences. A politician must practice politics by conforming to reality and taking a position in line with that conformity. If the language of political communication gradually turns into the language in use, the language in use into mental content, and mental content into belief and acceptance, conflicts and crises arise."

Prof. Dr. Yılmaz ESMER:

"The relationship between cultural values and structure is like a rubber band: it can be pulled here and there, but when released it returns to its original shape. If there are not enough democrats in a country, there is no democracy either. I am not talking about the self-styled democrats we have in abundance. What matters is sustainability. It is not easy to ensure sustainability through a constitution. Even if 'everyone shall be a democrat' were written in every sentence of the constitution, this could not be achieved. The United Kingdom, the most democratic country in the world, has no written constitution."

Dr. Akkan SUVER:

"As Eurasia was taking shape, the countries in the Communist bloc gained their independence twenty-one years ago and suddenly found themselves at the center of the global economy and liberalism. With the geography of more than twenty-two countries changing since 1992, the European Union took these countries under its umbrella to advance their development. For the other places in Central Asia or the Caucasus that are not in the European Union, Russia continues its struggle. After the formation of Eurasia, Türkiye's greatest task is to be a partner country."

Prof. Dr. Hurşit GÜNEŞ:

"Leaders are extremely powerful. No one can rebel against leaders within their own party. This power of leaders must be balanced to some extent. That is why there should not be a presidential system. Yet today a presidential system is being considered. In a presidential system, the president is elected directly by the people and therefore becomes more powerful with the power received from the majority of the people. In the parliamentary system, the executive is elected from within the legislature. Here, parliament constantly oversees the executive. If you are very uncomfortable with this, if you say you have too little power, you switch to a presidential system and become more powerful. This is the basic difference between the two systems."

Prof. Dr. Mesut Hakkı CAŞIN:

"A chain of fractions is being seen in Arab countries. No regime can survive through oppression and without the support of the people. Because of its position, Türkiye must be very careful; no situation in Türkiye's favor will arise from a possible Israel–Iran tension. Türkiye set a good example of diplomacy in the Libya affair and has also taken important steps in the national defense industry, ranking 12th in the world in this field. The Arab Spring is inevitable and irreversible. In Egypt, too, rapid change is taking place and the crisis continues. In addition, Israel is very uncomfortable with the ideological regime there."