Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan eked out a victory Sunday as his country voted to expand his powers in a constitutional referendum. Middle East analysts have been warning for years that Erdogan has sought to "legalize," so to speak, an authoritarian regime. Now, he has been given that power. 

The referendum could ensure he remains president until 2029, according to reports. 

The NY Times, surprisingly, actually provided an accurate (if not expansive-enough) summary on the referendum's implications: 

■ Abolish the post of prime minister and transfer executive power to the president.

■ Allow the newly empowered president to issue decrees and appoint many judges and officials responsible for scrutinizing his decisions.

■ Limit the president to two five-year terms, but give the option of running for a third term if Parliament truncates the second one by calling for early elections.

■ Allow the president to order disciplinary inquiries into any of Turkey’s 3.5 million civil servants, according to an analysis by the head of the Turkish Bar Association.

Academics and members of the opposition are concerned that the new system will threaten the separation of powers on which liberal democracies have traditionally depended.

“It represents a remarkable aggrandizement of Erdogan’s personal power and quite possibly a death blow to vital checks and balances in the country,” said Professor Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey expert at the Project on Middle East Democracy, a Washington research group. “Judicial independence was already shockingly weak before the referendum; the new system makes that worse.”

Mr. Erdogan’s supporters deny that the new system will limit political and judicial oversight. If opposition parties win control of Parliament, they could override the president’s decrees with their own legislation, while also asserting greater control over judicial appointments, supporters of the new Constitution contend.

When it comes the country's legal system, serious implications abound. Following the referendum, no fewer than 12 of the Constitutional Court's 15 judges "will be handpicked by the president."

This is a major development because Turkey's Constitutional Court is the only body that can try or challenge the president should parliament open an investigation into him or his office.  

Civil dissent, and coups in particular, will be dealt with even more harshly than in the past. 

CNN graphic: 

Perhaps most telling, however, is that al Qaeda-linked terror outfit, Ahrar al Sham, congratulated Erdogan on Turkey's referendum results. I provided the screenshots in the following tweet: 

No additional commentary is required.