MHP leader Bahçeli calls for restructuring Turkey's top court in line with presidential system

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has called for restructuring the Constitutional Court in line with the presidential system.

Bahçeli, whose party is an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that the recent rulings of the court are "flawed."

"There are supreme courts in the countries ruled with a presidential system and constitutional courts in those ruled with a parliamentary system. However, a historical governance reform was made in our country and the Turkish people preferred the presidential system on April 16, 2017, ending the parliamentary system period," Bahçeli said in a written statement on Sept. 30, referring to the constitutional referendum in 2017.

"More effective responses are given to major problems that threaten our nation with the presidential system. Anti-democratic initiatives have also been prevented with this system," Bahçeli said, going on to praise the system over its "success" in various areas, including the economy.

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According to Bahçeli, Turkey faces animosity and that the strrengthening of the presidential system with all of its institutions and rules should be the country's main agenda in order for domestic peace and stability.

"For this reason, the system should be gotten rid of all the obstacles of the parliamentary system. The judicial system must be handled and the judicial institutions that are products of coup periods must be democratized," the MHP leader said.

While deeming the obstacles in the parliamentary system "mouldy shackles," Bahçeli said that one of those is the Constitutional Court, which according to the MHP leader was established to protect the anti-democratic structure that the putschists of 1960 wanted to protect.

"The Constitutional Court must be restructured with all its components. The presidential system and high democratic standards entail this," he said.

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"A Supreme Court that doesn't contradict with the presidential system, which speeded up Turkey's democratization process, that no longer is the focus of debates and that's democratic, effective and fair would add to Turkey's power," Bahçeli added.

Bahçeli's remarks came after Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu slammed the Constitutional Court over its rulings earlier this month.

The MHP leader said that the court's "flawed" rulings "under the guise of rights violations," harm national rights and the sense of justice, adding that the party expects the issue to be discussed in the next legislative year.

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