Majority of Turkish voters say 'yes' to presidency system

More than half of voters in Turkey found to favor presidency system in Turkey, according to figures from the GENAR research company.

The research indicated that 59.6 percent of voters support a presidency system, while 55 percent of voters say yes to a new constitution, according to a report published in the Sabah daily Turkish newspaper.

The research, which was conducted in 36 provinces of Turkey with the participation of 4,900 people, also revealed that 50.8 percent of voters would support ruling AK Party while 25.7 percent would support the Republican People's Party (CHP), 11.1 of the voters Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and 10.2 percent support the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) if there were elections held today.

Also, 84.3 of total participants stated that they supported operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Of those surveyed, 49.2 percent of participants believe that PKK aims to divide the country, while only 17.4 of total participants believe that the group was defending itself.

Also, 57.2 percent of voters believe that the Syrian policy of Turkey is legitimate.

The presidency system, which has been discussed in Turkey for years, is on the agenda of the Turkish government, which aiming at intensifying efforts to change the current political system.

Recently President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu issued messages about the need to change the governmental system to a presidential one in a bid to attain the 2023 goals of the Turkish Republic in a meeting held during the last days of 2015.

Days after the meeting, President Erdogan proposed broad-based public participation in deciding on a new constitution and Turkey's potential shift to a presidential system.

"I believe we can take much stronger steps once Turkey has shifted to such a system," said Erdoğan, adding that most developed countries have a presidential or semi-presidential system.

The Republican People's Party said that it was open to discussions of the presidency system, while the Nationalist Movement Party declared that they were against it.