Executive Branch
The function of head of state is performed by the president (Cumhurbaşkanı). A president is elected every five years on the principle of universal suffrage according to the current constitution. The president does not have to be a member of parliament, but he/she must be over 40 years old and hold a bachelor's degree. The current president Abdullah Gül was elected by Parliament on 28 August 2007. Executive power rests with the president, the prime minister (Başbakan) and the Council of Ministers (Bakanlar Kurulu) (Cabinet Erdoğan III). The ministers don't have to be members of Parliament (a recent example is Kemal Derviş). The prime minister is appointed by the President and approved through a vote of confidence (güvenoyu) in the Parliament. The prime minister is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose conservative Justice and Development Party won a majority of parliamentary seats in the 2011 general elections.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Turkey
Famous quotes containing the words executive and/or branch:
“One point in my public life: I did all I could for the reform of the civil service, for the building up of the South, for a sound currency, etc., etc., but I never forgot my party.... I knew that all good measures would suffer if my Administration was followed by the defeat of my party. Result, a great victory in 1880. Executive and legislature both completely Republican.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”
—James Branch Cabell (1879–1958)