Erdogan cites Hitler's Germany as effective executive presidencyAmid a push for increased executive powers, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cited the political system under German dictator Adolf Hitler after being questioned whether a "unitary state" could exist with his ambitions of an executive-style presidential system.
"In a unitary system [such as Turkey's] a presidential system can work perfectly," Erdogan told reporters on Thursday after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia, according to Turkish media.
"There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler's Germany," he added.
Erdogan has pushed for Turkey's 1980 Constitution - which was written after a military coup the same year - to be changed, in order to transform the president's office from a largely ceremonial role to that of a chief executive, similar to systems in the US, France and Russia.
The president's critics believe his ambitions could give far-reaching powers to a man who has displayed increasingly authoritarian attributes.
http://www.dw.com/en/erdogan-cites-hitlers-germany-as-effective-executive-presidency/a-18954675And then he went on to talk about the "cleansing" in the Kurdish areas ...
