Erdogan to Run for Turkish Presidency

After months of speculation, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday revealed Turkey's worst-kept political secret: he will run in the country's first direct presidential elections next month in a move designed to expand his vast powers and allow him to govern for another decade.

The announcement—delivered in Ankara in a slick campaign launch in front of 4,000 party members and cabinet officials—signals the start of a race culminating in an Aug. 10 poll that Mr. Erdogan is hot favorite to win. In power for 12 years and his popularity seemingly unscathed by a year of sporadic antigovernment protests and a corruption scandal, the premier is barred by party rules from running as prime minister again.

"With the direct election of the president by the people, the position of the president will be elevated to and regain its original strength to secure the unity of the state and the people," Mr. Erdogan said in an emotional speech that followed a 20-minute biographical video screened live by many television channels. "The new president will make Turkey fly in every sense."

After successes taming Turkey's once-dominant military, reshaping the judiciary and subjugating the press, many see an Erdogan victory as inevitable. His critics accuse him of peddling an increasingly authoritarian agenda that has polarized the country, but the latest polls give him around 55% of the vote, indicating he will capture the presidency in the first round of voting.

At stake is the nature of political power in Turkey. The presidency has for decades been a largely ceremonial post, but Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly stated his desire to recast the office with strong executive powers, including calling cabinet meetings.

Executive presidential power could bolster the tight control Mr. Erdogan has forged over the armed forces, judiciary and police.

"This pomp of the nomination speaks to how confident both Erdogan and his party are of victory," said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. "Erdogan has a transformative vision and if he wins he will try to change the republic in his image, the only question is whether he will succeed."

The premier has an enviable track record at the ballot box.

Since his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, swept to power in 2003, Mr. Erdogan has transformed it into the world's most electorally successful Islamist-rooted political force. Underpinned by a decade of remarkable economic growth, he has won six consecutive elections at the local and national level, maintaining a solid base of support among Turkey's working-class and conservative Muslims, many of whom had felt like second-class citizens in previous secular administrations.

Mr. Erdogan's success in undermining Turkey's secular shibboleths is evident from the secular and nationalist opposition's choice to oppose him; Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, a diplomat and academic who was at the helm of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for nine years until 2014.