Turkish presidential elections are held in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

as part of the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

every five years, to determine who will serve as the

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

. There have been 22 elections for the

since the establishment of the republic in 1923, electing 12 distinct Turkish citizens as president.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

and

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

were elected four times,

Celal Bayar Celal is both a masculine Turkish given name and a surname. It is the Turkish form of the Arabic word Jalal (جلال), which means "majesty". Notable people with the name include: Given name * Celal Al (born 1984), Turkish actor * Celal Adan (b ...

and

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

were elected three times,

Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (9 June 1894 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the fourth president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état. Early life Gürsel was born in the town ...

Cevdet Sunay Ahmet Cevdet Sunay (10 February 1899 – 22 May 1982) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the fifth president of Turkey from 1966 to 1973. Early life and career Sunay was born in 1899 in the village of Ataköy nea ...

Fahri Korutürk Fahri Sabit Korutürk (15 August 1903 – 12 October 1987) was a Turkish people, Turkish admiral, diplomat and politician who was the sixth president of Turkey from 1973 to 1980. Before his presidency, he served as the List of commanders of the ...

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the eighth president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th prime minister of Turkey from 1983 ...

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

Ahmet Necdet Sezer Ahmet Necdet Sezer (; born 13 September 1941) is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the tenth president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from January 1998 to May 2000. The ...

and

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister of Turkey, Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently s ...

were each elected once.

Kenan Evren Ahmet Kenan Evren (17 July 1917 – 9 May 2015) was a Turkish military officer and dictator who served as the seventh president of Turkey from 1980 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup. On 18 June 2014, a Turkish cou ...

became the president without an election, so that he assumed the title by the ratification of the present constitution on 7 November 1982 (

Constitution of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

provisional article 1).

History

Throughout the years, the nature and importance of Turkish presidential elections have changed as a result of constitutional amendments.

Indirect elections (1923-2014)

Before 2014, the President was elected by MPs in the

Turkish parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

Direct elections since 2014

The 2014 presidential elections was the first

direct election Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they want to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen ...

of a President, a result of a 2007 referendum created and backed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK party).

Presidential system since 2018

Following the approval of constitutional changes in a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

held in 2017, the elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

became both the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

. As a result, the

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

of government was replaced with an

executive presidency An executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of that state, and can be found in presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary systems. They contrast with figurehead presidents, common in most parlia ...

and a

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

Acting presidents

In case of a temporary absence of the president on account of illness, travel abroad, or similar circumstances, the

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

serves as acting president, and exercises the powers of the president until the president resumes his functions, and if the presidency falls vacant as a result of death or resignation or for any other reason, until the election of a new president.

List of Turkish presidential elections

Notes

References

External links

* Roger P. Nye (1977). "Civil-Military Confrontation in Turkey: The 1973 Presidential Election". ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', 8, pp 209–228. doi:10.1017/S0020743800026957. {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Turkish Presidential Elections Presidents of Turkey Government of Turkey