ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday vowed to press for a new constitution if he is elected president in August elections, saying the old Turkey was a “thing of the past”.

“A new constitution on the path to new Turkey will be one of our priorities if elected president... A new constitution means a new future,” he told thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in Istanbul.

Changing the constitution would allow Erdogan to give greater powers to the presidency, until now a largely ceremonial role.

He is expected by most analysts to easily win the August 10 election, possibly in the first round, despite a turbulent past year that saw huge protests against his rule.

Erdogan set out four priorities for Turkey heading to 2023, when the country will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern Turkish state by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2014