© Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesFILE: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
"The President will decide to declare general or partial mobilization in case of a situation of war arises and in case of an uprising... against the homeland or the Republic, or behaviour that endangers the indivisibility of the country and nation internally and/or externally," the new regulation says.
The right to declare national mobilisation previously belonged to the cabinet.
The regulation explains that a national mobilisation will become effective with its publication and will be presented for the approval of parliament the same day.
The new regulation makes an important amendment to the issue of purged public workers, including soldiers, who were dismissed following the 2016 failed coup attempt. These purged public workers can now be classified as substitute soldiers in times of national emergency.
"Those dismissed from the profession because they were determined to be affiliated with terrorist organizations or structures against the national security of the state, and those who were sentenced to imprisonment by military courts and judicial courts ... can also be 'substitute personnel,'" the new regulation wrote.
This group of people was previously banned from public service by presidential decrees following the failed coup attempt, which resulted in the dismissal of more than a hundred thousand public workers from the police, military and judiciary, who were accused of having ties with the exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen and his network are accused of masterminding the coup attempt in 2016. Gulen has denied any connection.
The new regulation is a continuum of adjustments of state regulations to fit the executive presidential system which was accepted in 2017 under a controversial referendum, held when the country was ruled by a state of emergency.
The new system gives supreme powers to the President without strong check and balances, minimising the role of parliament.
Their passivity in regards to the Gaza conflict has turned out to be a disadvantage. Their main rival, Shiite Iran, has taken the political, economical and military center stage in the region. What a humiliation for Erdogan ...