ANKARA // Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emboldened by local election wins, on Friday criticised Twitter, the nation’s top court and the central bank and hinted he could run for the presidency.
Asked whether he would seek to become head of state in August, the first time voters will directly elect the president, Mr Erdogan said he and incumbent Abdullah Gul “will reach a decision after negotiating this between us”.
After Mr Erdogan’s 11 years in power, months of crisis and crucial elections last Sunday, Turkey has been left even more polarised between a secular and mostly urban middle-class and Mr Erdogan’s loyal base in the conservative working class.
Mr Erdogan, head of a hugely popular Islamic-rooted party, spoke bluntly on Friday on a flashpoint issue in the crisis: an official block on Twitter that was overturned this week as breaching free speech by the constitutional court.
“We are of course bound by the constitutional court verdict, but I don’t have to respect it,” Mr Erdogan said, a day after Twitter went live again in Turkey. “I don’t respect this ruling.”
“All our national, moral values have been put aside,” he said about the website, which has hosted a torrent of recordings implicating Mr Erdogan’s inner circle in sleaze and corruption.
As he spoke, a lower court in Ankara ruled against another social media ban, on the YouTube, imposed on March 27 after it was used to leak a recording of apparent top-level military talks on Syria.
Mr Erdogan denied the bans amounted to censorship, characterising the websites as simply commercial companies that sell a product.
“It is everyone’s free will whether or not to buy their product,” he said. “This has nothing to do with freedoms.”
The festering scandal fuelled by the online leaks, which Mr Erdogan has blamed on shadowy supporters of influential US-based imam Fetullah Gulen, have damaged Mr Erdogan’s standing abroad.
Investor jitters have depressed stocks and the lira and threatened his legacy – economic boom times marked by a spate of construction mega-projects.
Mr Erdogan did not shy away from handing out advice to another independent state body, the central bank, which in January hiked rates to arrest the lira’s steep slide.
“The central bank should hold an extraordinary meeting to cut” interest rates, he said.
“Investors in Turkey will be eager once interest rates are lowered. More investments will be made. We are doing quiet well right now in economic terms”.
Turkey’s economy grew 4 per cent last year, but analysts warn of a sharp slowdown ahead, also because of US Fed moves to slow a flood of cheap money that has fuelled emerging market growth.
Despite street protests and graft scandals, Mr Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) scored sweeping wins in nationwide municipal polls last Sunday.
Mr Erdogan has left no doubt he will seek to maintain his hold on power. The big question is whether he will openly challenge Mr Gul, or whether the two may try to swap posts.
The premier could also seek to change AKP rules to allow him to seek a fourth term. However, Mr Erdogan said on Friday: “I am in favour of the three-term rule.”
Mr Gul has cultivated the image of a moderate head of state, while the former semi-professional footballer Mr Erdogan has adopted an often bellicose tone that has played well with his voter base.
While some commentators see a looming standoff, others believe the duo is playing a “good cop, bad cop” strategy.
They point out that Mr Gul, despite sometimes defying Mr Erdogan, for example by tweeting amid the ban, has signed all of the AKP’s controversial bills into law.
The deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, said the local election results “have shown that the road to Cankaya (Palace) has been opened to Erdogan”.
“If our prime minister wants to run as a candidate, I think Mr Gul will respect this and support his candidacy.”
* Agence France-Presse