Noah Feldman, Columnist

Turkey's New Constitution Would End Its Democracy

President Erdogan's efforts to consolidate power would make him a strongman.

January 22, 2017 at 4:03 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Powerful.
Photographer: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

With all eyes on the U.S. as it inaugurates a new leader, Turkey is preparing to amend its constitution to make its president even more powerful than the American executive.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with replacing parliamentary government with a presidential system. The problem is timing and context: Turkey’s proposed changes, which will go to a national referendum after being approved by parliament, follow the unsuccessful coup against increasingly autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.