Altaylı's take on 50+1: 'Palace lawyers will start shouting that the counter has been reset'

Journalist Fatih Altaylı evaluated the statement made by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to journalists on his plane returning from Germany, where he said, "Let's change the 50+1 percent requirement for the presidential election."

"THEY WERE DEFENDING 50+1"

Altaylı said the following:

"This sentence is the exact opposite of what was said during the period when the Constitution that introduced the Presidential system was put before the nation for approval.

At that time, former Parliament Speaker Prof. Mustafa Şentop, who prided himself on being a constitutional lawyer, the late Parliament Constitutional Commission Chairman Prof. Burhan Kuzu, whose ties to the Iranian drug mafia were exposed by me, and all the Palace's lawyers were defending 50+1.

Mr. Mustafa Şentop was defending in every program he attended that the 50+1 rule was indispensable due to the nature of Presidential systems."

"THEY WILL HAVE FOUND A WAY TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR THE 4TH AND 5TH TIME"

Noting that if the public accepts this change, it would pave the way for Erdoğan to run for president two more times, Altaylı wrote: "Palace lawyers will come out and start shouting 'The Constitution has changed, the counter has been reset,' and Erdoğan will have found a way to be a candidate for the 4th and 5th time. However, instead of messing with the Constitution so much, they should bring a referendum to make the Presidency a 'life-long' position. At least then we would solve the problem without ruining the Constitution entirely."