A Comparison between the ‘Vice Presidents’ in the Turkish Type Presidential System and the US Presidential System: Addressing Controversial Issues Regarding the Turkish Vice Presidency

Abstract The role of the vice presidents, as successors in the case of a presidential vacancy, has become more important in the executive branch over the years and today, vice president position is seen as a possible path to rise through the political ranks and become the president. Vice presidency is unique to presidential systems. When the United States Constitution came into force in 1789, the United States became the first presidential republic, with George Washington as the first president and John Adams as the first vice president. Over time, other countries that accepted the presidential regime, also included this institution in their constitutions. Vice presidency has been introduced into the Turkish constitutional system by the 2017 constitutional amendments which transformed the Turkish Governmental System into “Turkish Type Presidential System”. The US Presidential System has been considered as a model to promote and encourage the transition to a presidential governmental system in Turkey. However; the vice presidency in this new system, which has led to heated debates, is designed quite different from the one in the US Presidential System. In this paper, the vice presidents of the Turkish Type Presidential System and the US Presidential System will be compared not only because the US Presidential System, known as the pure (typical, quintessential) form of the presidential system, has been seen as a model to support the transition of the new governmental system in Turkey, but also the US Vice Presidency is the most favorable basis for comparison, as it is the oldest example of this institution. After mentioning the process of inclusion of the vice presidency into the Turkish constitutional system, the democratic legitimacy debate and other controversial issues regarding the Turkish Vice Presidency will be enlightened from a comparative perspective. In conclusion, evaluations and suggestions will be provided in line with the criticism against the Turkish Vice Presidency.