How Erdoğan plans to bypass the laws and keep the presidency

Turkish President Erdoğan, 72, intends to move the elections scheduled for May 2028 to March or April 2028, exploiting a constitutional loophole that allows him to run for president again. His advisor publicly confirmed the intention. The opposition also calls for early elections, but to challenge his economic policies.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 72, is seeking a way to stay in power beyond the limits of the Turkish constitution, which restricts a president to two terms. According to a report by Reuters, Erdoğan intends to move the presidential and parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for May 2028, to March or April 2028. The move is based on a constitutional loophole: advancing elections prevents the president from completing a full second term, so he can run again. Erdoğan's advisor said publicly that 'it is almost certain that the 2028 elections will be held in March or April.' To advance the elections, Erdoğan needs a majority in parliament, and the article estimates this will not be a problem for him. The Turkish opposition has also called for early elections, but for different reasons – to challenge Erdoğan's economic policies, not to allow him to be re-elected. The main opposition leader said that 'reducing the issue to how we can get Tayyip Erdoğan re-elected as president is, from our perspective, simply unacceptable.' The article notes that Erdoğan previously changed the system of government through a 2017 referendum, which allowed him to be re-elected in 2018 and 2023. The headline calls Erdoğan a 'tyrant' and uses loaded terminology ('bypassing the laws', 'violated the law'), while the body describes a seemingly legal constitutional move of advancing elections.