Smooth, silky, and plausible as ever, Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan now wants his country to become more Presidential, and less Parliamentary.

Late last week – in a statement that went almost entirely unremarked in the European media – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the Opposition’s fears official: he wants to transform Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential one. Erdogan told business site Bloomberg that the proposal could be put to a national referendum at some point after parliamentary elections this summer, where his governing AK Party is odds-on to win a third straight victory. This isn’t exactly slowly, slowly catchy monkey: Erdogan is moving at one helluva lick towards his goal of authoritarian power.

Currently, the presidential office has little or no power, most of this being concentrated in the Prime Minister’s office owned 100% by Erdogan himself. But just as Hitler abolished the Presidency once he was in control of Weimar Germany, so those newspapers being harrassed (and  Opposition politicians undergoing show trials) expect that the shiny new Presidential system can have only one President: Recep Erdogan. They also fear that the Parliament will then have have its balls removed in short order.

The Turkish Premier was predictably vague about how it will all work. Eschewing any detail about how a presidential system in Turkey would function, Erdogan said that if forthcoming elections suggested a mandate to slim down the republic’s existing constitution, he would go ahead. When Erdogan says ‘slim down’, he remains, ‘take out all the libertarian/rule of law nonsense’.

“If the people react positively to such a demand, we can take further steps towards a Presidential system,” he said.

There is no point to any of this beyond Erdogan becoming the nation’s Beloved Leader, and then sidestepping the legislature. Anti-Government politicians said the debate was “unnecessary” and a “distraction,” while newspapers in opposition to Mr. Erdogan’s government warned of “dictatorship.”

But Tim Ash, chief emerging markets economist at RBS, is tickled pink with the idea: he reckons that investors trust Mr. Erdogan, who has delivered only criteria of any importance to banks: stability and growth.

“Foreign investors have faith in him,” says Ash, “Right now investors wouldn’t be too perturbed if he decided to change things.” So that’s alright then.

Statistics released last week show that Turkey’s economy grew more than 9% in the 4th quarter of 2010, outstripping expectations and underlining, says Erdogan, that Turkey’s “economic dynamism” is a one-off in the Europe/Asia Minor region. But many think the ambitious Erdogan is in a hurry to gain full (and irreversible) control before the out-of-control boom ends up in a very hard landing.

Some analysts argue that as that risk rises, a government focused on a controversial constitutional change will be less likely to tighten fiscal policy and ensure carefully controlled deceleration to sustainable growth.

“A focus on political change now would be a mistake,”says political analyst Atilla Yesilada,“AK should use the electoral mandate to tighten fiscal policy and embed growth”.

But then, that isn’t Recep Erdogan’s gameplan. If ever there was a country heading for life beneath the jackboot, Turkey is it.

Related Slog articles: Erdogan consolidates his power.   Erdogan attacks the press.