After the referendum held in Turkey on April 16, 2017, there was a change in the government system, and with the Presidential elections of June 24, 2018, the new government system model, the Presidential government system, was introduced. The Presidential government system model was especially considered in terms of eliminating the problems caused by the parliamentary government system, overcoming the political crisis and ensuring stability in the administration.
With the new system, major changes have occurred in the executive body, the functioning of this body and the administrative organization structure within it. It is possible to say that there has been an effective change in the executive body and the administrative organization within the executive body with the new system. Especially within the scope of the Constitutional amendment made in 2017, the framework of the new model, its constitutional view and the latest situation in the central government within the scope of the duties and powers of the President and the reflections caused by the latest changes constitute the main theme of our study.
Presidential Goverment System Administrative Organization of The Republic of Turkey Reflections on the Central Government Organization.
With the comprehensive constitutional amendment made in 2017 and fully entered into force on July 9, 2018, a transition was made from the parliamentary system to the presidential system. It can be said that this system change means the same thing, where the general administration and the presidential office intersect both in theory and practice, as a result of the abolition of the council of ministers and the prime ministry and the unification of the entire executive presidential office. In this context, considering that the chairmanship of the council of ministers in the previous system has now melted and dissolved under the presidency in the new system, these three authorities are a single body, that is, merged, within the general administration/central administration. In addition to the Presidency, the provincial organization of the central administration and its ministries do not have the capacity or characteristics to be a legal subject on their own. In this respect, it is quite possible to establish a mathematical equation in the form of general administration and presidency in the new system.
As of July 9, 2018, the Presidential government system was introduced and the organizational structure of the Turkish public administration has changed and continues to change. In order to examine the organizational structure of public administration in Turkey, it is possible to group the organizational structure or public institutions and organizations under three headings: The first is central administration (central administration, general administration) and consists of capital and provincial organizations. The second is decentralization and consists of local governments, functional (service) decentralization organizations and professional organizations that are public institutions. Thirdly, other structures other than central and decentralized management organizations (such as independent administrative authorities and Development Agencies). Centralized management means that administrative services are carried out by the center and organizations within the hierarchical structure of the center. With the swearing-in of the President in the Turkish Grand National Assembly on July 9, 2018, Turkey moved from the parliamentary system to the Presidential government system. As a result of this radical change, there was a radical change in the administrative structure of the state, especially in the capital organization.
The presidential organization was reorganized after the 2017 constitutional amendment, which transitioned from the parliamentary system to the presidential system and came into full force on July 9, 2018. Because with the transition to the new system, with the development of the council of ministers and the prime ministry, the executive power is represented by the president alone. In its administrative organization, the general administration and the central administration had to be completely redesigned. CBK No. 1 (OG.10.07.2018) issued in this context generally regulated the entire presidential organization (including affiliated and related institutions and organizations) and the organization of all separate ministries (including central and provincial organizations). CBK No. 4 (OG 15.07.2018) regulates the relevant and related institutions and organizations affiliated with the ministries separately. In this respect, it can be said that in the new system, the general administration consists of the presidency, both de facto and de jure. As a matter of fact, when considered in the context of the state legal entity within the general administration, the fact that the council of ministers and the prime ministry were abolished and merged with the presidency, as well as the ministries and the central and provincial organization of the ministries were preserved, but unlike their former positions, the political identities of the ministers ended and they were legally reduced to the position of hierarchical subordinates and highest-level bureaucrats of the president and It is seen that the ministries have become the main service units of the presidency.
As a matter of fact, in CBK No. 1, all organizations of all ministries are organized in the format of sub-units of the presidential organization and within the same CBK. In this respect, it would no longer be correct to think of ministries as administrative units that are separate and distinct from the presidential organization. In this context, if it is possible to see the central auxiliary institutions in the new system (such as the Council of State, Court of Accounts, HSK, Board of Information, Board of Public Ethics, etc.) in the general administration as separate from the presidency, this detail and exception does not seem to be at a level that would prevent us from assuming that the general administration consists of the president anymore. On the other hand, as explained above, although having separate public legal entities, administrative, economic and social public institutions (service decentralization organizations), which were considered to be relevant or related organizations affiliated with the presidency or ministries, were ultimately subjected to the hierarchy of the president both de facto and de jure. For this reason, in the final analysis, it is not possible to see them as separate from the presidency. In this context, the main theme of our study is to discuss and interpret the consequences of the new system on centralized management and the reflections of the changes in the administrative organization. The study is especially important in terms of examining the changes that the new system has brought about in the current situation.
