Ekrem İmamoğlu writes about Turkey's path forward from Silivri!

CHP's presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been imprisoned in Silivri Prison since March 23, made striking assessments in an article he wrote for T24.

İmamoğlu criticized the Presidential Government System.

Here is İmamoğlu's article titled "We will bring prosperity and justice through democracy":

A legislature where the majority consists of deputies waiting for a word from the President's lips for every decision they make and every law they pass; a judiciary that attempts to decide who will run the country's leading party by filling prisons with presidential candidates, party leaders, elected deputies, journalists, students, and unionists; an executive branch that lowers interest rates upon the instructions of a President who says "interest is the cause, inflation is the result," causing inflation and then interest rates to skyrocket, and which thinks "what would the gentleman say?" before every signature it puts down...

A country that has bid farewell to the separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial independence, democracy, justice, meritocracy, good governance, abundance, and prosperity...

Unfortunately, this is the state of my country.

So, was Turkey always like this?

It was not.

We always had problems in our legislature, our judiciary, our executive, in the separation of powers, and in the system of checks and balances, and in our democracy. But today's scene is something else entirely.

We have never had a period where our democracy has regressed so much, where the relationship between the branches of power has been so corrupted, and where the executive has been so dominant over both the legislature and the judiciary. There has never been a period where those who came to power through elections to govern the country considered themselves to be the state to this extent, and where the state mechanism became so politicized and used so much against the opposition.

So what happened that things reached this point?

We all know the answer. There is no other reason for this than the authoritarian one-man regime known by the fancy name of the Presidential Government System. Turkey's 150-year-old parliamentary system was ended with a constitutional amendment made by using the political atmosphere caused by the 2016 coup attempt and the environment where freedom of the press and expression were restricted under the State of Emergency (OHAL).

The Grand National Assembly was weakened. The Assembly's function of making laws, determining the budget, and overseeing the government was weakened. Interpellation and oral question opportunities were eliminated, parliamentary inquiries were tied to impossible quorums, and thus oversight mechanisms were destroyed or rendered inoperable. In the past, the President, who was the impartial head of state, is now the chairman of a political party; as the head of the executive, he has gained unchecked power over the legislature by determining his party's deputy lists in elections.

For all these structural reasons, the Presidential Government System has significantly weakened the parliament.

The structure of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), which is the cornerstone of the judiciary, was changed and came under the de facto influence of the executive, and judicial independence was weakened.

All state officials are appointed through a decision system that is left to the discretion of one person from A to Z. While the tenure of individuals is under legal protection and merit/experience criteria exist in the law regarding every institution, all of these were destroyed, and the institutional structure of the state was weakened.

The power of the legislature and judiciary to check and balance the executive was weakened, and the executive effectively began to control the legislature and the judiciary. A "super-presidency" model was introduced, where the executive was entirely transferred to the President. The principle of separation of powers was effectively abolished, and a model of the fusion of powers was adopted.

To achieve abundance, prosperity, justice, meritocracy, and good governance, we must get rid of this one-man regime and return to democracy, the separation of powers, and the rule of law. Without making the judiciary independent, making the Parliament the center of politics again, handing over the executive to those who are competent, and limiting the President's power, we can achieve neither prosperity, nor justice, nor abundance.

A Turkey where all of this will happen is not far off. We will start doing these one by one after the first upcoming elections.

WE WILL RE-ESTABLISH THE SEPARATION OF POWERS

We will definitely change the Presidential Government System, which drains our country's abundance, condemns our nation to poverty, and leaves every decision to the word that will come out of the mouth of one man.

We will do whatever it takes to get rid of this system in order to place the TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey), the only body elected by the entire public, at the center of politics and to save the judiciary from the hegemony of the executive. We will achieve a great consensus in the TBMM to change the constitution and return to the parliamentary system.

Until we return to the parliamentary system, we will not stand idle; we will make reforms that will democratize the Presidential Government System. Whether by using presidential powers, making legal regulations in the Assembly, or going for a constitutional amendment—whichever way we can—we will limit the powers of the executive, strengthen the legislature, and make the judiciary independent.

First of all, we will abolish the boards working under the Presidency and transfer the powers and duties performed by these boards to the relevant ministries. Ministers to be determined from among the deputies elected by the people will be authorized and have a say.

Then, we will restore the power and prestige of the Assembly, which has come under the tutelage of the executive and has been deprived of its power of checks and balances. We will bring back or make functional the oversight tools such as general debates, questions, parliamentary research, and interpellations that were abolished or neutralized in the Presidential Government System. We will strengthen the TBMM's power of the purse.

We will abolish the omnibus bill practice, make the fundamental law practice suitable for its purpose, and put an end to its abuse.

We will increase the support of civil society and academia for legislative processes. We will increase the expert capacity of TBMM commissions, make the legislative and oversight activities of deputies effective, and ensure that commissions work in cooperation with NGOs and academia.

We will lead the preparation of a new Assembly internal regulation and guarantee the right of the opposition to determine the negotiation and Assembly agenda with the internal regulation.

WE WILL SAVE THE JUDICIARY FROM THE HEGEMONY OF THE EXECUTIVE

We will carry out a radical judicial reform. We will make the judiciary impartial and independent, the law supreme, and justice accessible. We will accept the binding nature of the decisions of the Constitutional Court (AYM) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) without question and strengthen constitutional oversight mechanisms. We will redefine the job description of the Constitutional Court and subject presidential decrees and all executive actions to judicial review.

We will reorganize the structure of the HSK in a way that guarantees judicial independence. We will introduce the principle of geographical guarantee in the appointment of judges and prosecutors and respect the principle of the natural judge. We will not allow judges and prosecutors to be changed while the trial is ongoing.

WE WILL RETURN TO THE RULE OF LAW

We will create a political climate where citizens can freely express their thoughts and no one is excluded because of their ideas, beliefs, or identity. We will change the regulations in the Anti-Terror Law and the Turkish Penal Code that restrict freedom of expression. We will prevent the arbitrary application of laws such as insulting the President and the disinformation law.

We will ensure that the right to assembly and demonstration is used according to universal standards, and we will put an end to the use of force by law enforcement in a disproportionate manner that is contrary to international human rights standards.

We will ensure the effective protection of trade union rights, strengthen the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively, and put an end to strike bans aimed at preventing the labor struggle.

WE WILL MAKE ELECTIONS FAIR AND FREE

To ensure that political competition takes place under equal conditions and that the will of the voters is fully reflected in the Assembly, we will change the Law on Political Parties and make the Supreme Election Council (YSK) independent to ensure election security. We will put an end to practices that lead to ruling parties gaining advantages during election periods. We will ensure justice in the access of political parties to financial resources and the media. We will make the financing of politics transparent and ensure that state aid to political parties is fair. We will make donation and expenditure processes open to the public. We will enact a political ethics law, make clean politics dominant, and fight effectively against corruption. When we get rid of the mentality that opposes the transparency of political financing by saying "we cannot find a provincial head to serve," politics in Turkey will be done for the nation in the true sense.

We will accept all political approaches that do not advocate violence as legitimate and legal. We will put an end to the closure of parties with vague accusations and will base our approach on the principle of individual responsibility. We will abolish the trustee (kayyım) practices that allow mayors to be removed from office before the judicial process is completed.

WE WILL ENTRUST JOBS TO THE COMPETENT

We will ensure that objective criteria are taken as a basis in the appointment of public officials. We will record the interviews to be conducted when employing high-level public personnel and introduce the right to appeal the results.

We will abolish interviews in the recruitment of lower-level public personnel and ensure that written exams are prepared by reliable commissions.

We will bring back the undersecretariat system in ministries.

WE WILL LIBERATE THE MEDIA

We will guarantee media freedom and freedom of expression. We will end the pressure on media members and make universal standards valid in press freedom.

We will make media ownership transparent and prevent the use of media power to create economic and political influence. We will base our approach on pluralism and public oversight in the media.

We will strengthen public debate and the right to receive news/information. We will establish an independent audit platform based on the principles of transparency and accountability in the distribution of advertising revenues. We will restructure RTÜK and the Press Advertisement Agency (BİK) and ensure that both institutions operate in accordance with the principles of impartiality, transparency, and equality.

We will ensure that TRT and Anadolu Agency broadcast impartially, on principle, and in the public interest.

We will prepare a new media law that addresses digital and traditional media together. We will make it mandatory for digital giants like Google and Meta to transfer a share of their advertising revenues to local media organizations. We will encourage the creation of fair competition conditions for content creators by bringing transparency to the algorithmic decision-making processes of digital platforms.

WE WILL MAKE REGULATORY AND SUPERVISORY BODIES AUTONOMOUS

A strong state requires strong, high-quality, accountable, and transparent institutions. Real economic and administrative stability is achieved through a strong institutional structure. Because the institutional structure ensures that predictable and rational decisions are made in the economy.

In modern economies, the autonomy of regulatory and supervisory bodies is of critical importance to ensure trust. If these institutions can make objective decisions that are competent, professional, and ensure fair competition conditions for all stakeholders of the economy, trust in the economy increases, the investment environment strengthens, and the economy becomes "inclusive."

We will transform the regulatory and supervisory bodies, which should be independent of the government but are effectively tied to the presidency and operate in line with the political interests of the government, into autonomous, accountable, and professional structures.

We will save all regulatory and supervisory bodies such as RTÜK, TCMB (Central Bank), BDDK (Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency), TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute), SPK (Capital Markets Board), EPDK (Energy Market Regulatory Authority), and the Public Procurement Authority from political pressure and the tutelage of the executive, and ensure that they act in accordance with the public interest. We will make appointments to these institutions transparent and auditable, and we will require education and experience in the relevant sector for the managers and board members to be appointed.

WE WILL STRENGTHEN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

We will strengthen local governments administratively, financially, and politically, and make democratic pluralism a fundamental condition. In recent years, in a way that has lost its meaning and justification, the powers of local governments have been significantly pruned, and many powers have been transferred to the President or the relevant ministry.

We will see local governments not only as service units but as institutions that serve the deepening and establishment of democracy. We will transfer more powers to local governments. In this context, we will put an end to trustee practices and will not allow the will of the voters to be usurped by the judiciary and bureaucracy.

We will ensure justice in the budget share and resource transfer allocated to municipalities and provide constitutional protection for the financial autonomy of local governments. In order to spread participatory democracy, we will activate neighborhood assemblies, local referendums, and city councils.

Prosperity, justice, and democracy...

These three concepts are directly linked to each other. It is impossible to have prosperity without justice and democracy.

A state only has strong legitimacy in the eyes of the public if it is based on justice; only if there is justice can social peace be achieved and the country attain prosperity. Citizens are motivated, produce, and make long-term investments only if they are in a fair and safe environment. Only if there is justice will the brain and capital drain reverse, and Turkey will become a center of attraction for the world.

There is no abundance in a country without justice and law.

As we implement these reforms we have mentioned, our economy will improve rapidly, and our 86 million people will talk about wealth, a strong future, and abundance, not poverty.

In the 21st century, the issue is not natural resources, but human resources.

We trust both our human resources and our human will.

We will work, we will produce, we will share fairly.

We will EXPERIENCE PROSPERITY, JUSTICE, AND ABUNDANCE in peace and tranquility.

There is very little time left.