The politics of Turkey takes place in a framework of a secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government, and the President of Turkey is the head of state who holds a largely ceremonial role with substantial reserve powers.
Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its current constitution was adopted on 7 November 1982 after the Turkish constitutional referendum.
The function of head of state is performed by the president (Cumhurbaşkanı). A president is elected every five years on the principle of universal suffrage according to the current constitution. The president does not have to be a member of parliament, but he/she must be over 40 years old and hold a bachelor's degree. The current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was directly elected in 2014. Executive power rests with the president, the prime minister (Başbakan), and the Council of Ministers. Most ministers are members of Parliament. (Kemal Derviş's 17 months' tenure in 2001-'02 as Minister of Economic Affairs was one exception.) The prime minister is appointed by the president and approved through a vote of confidence (güvenoyu) in the parliament. The Prime Minister of Turkey (Turkish: Başbakan) is the head of government of Turkey. He is the leader of a political coalition in the Turkish parliament (Meclis) and the leader of the cabinet. The current holder of the position is Binali Yıldırım of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), who took office on 24 May 2016 and replaced the former prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (also from Justice and Development Party - AKP).