Erdogan heralds Turkey's ‘fresh start’

Turkey is making a fresh start after the country officially switched to a new presidential system of government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his inaugural address on Monday.

Speaking to a host of Turkish and foreign dignitaries at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: “With a presidential system of government, we are moving to a new system of government which is far beyond our almost 150-year-quest for democracy and what we have experienced through the history of our 95-year-old republic.”

He added that Turkey is leaving behind a system which cost the country politically, socially, and economically.

“We will try to be worthy of our nation with the awareness that we are the president not only of those who voted for us but all 81 million” citizens of Turkey, Erdogan said.

Erdogan late Monday afternoon took the presidential oath of office to become the Republic of Turkey’s first president under its new governmental system.

Read: Why the Arabs like Erdogan

His re-election in the 24 June polls marked Turkey’s transition to an executive presidential system of government, doing away with the prime minister’s post, among other changes.

Erdogan won an absolute majority in the presidential election with 52.5 per cent of the vote, according to Turkey’s Supreme Election Council.