ISTANBUL — Turkey issued a statement on Friday saying that comments by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
— in which he cited Hitler in response to a question about whether a
strong presidency was possible in Turkey — had been misinterpreted.
Mr.
Erdogan, who is pushing to imbue the largely ceremonial presidency with
sweeping executive powers, told reporters late Thursday that “there are
already examples in the world.”
“You can see it when you look at Hitler’s Germany,” he said.
Mr.
Erdogan did not elaborate, but his comparison to Hitler drew immediate
criticism because of what many view as his increasing authoritarianism.
His comment also raised the issue of how the leader of one of the
world’s most influential countries, an American ally and member of NATO,
would mention Hitler in the context of his own tenure.
On
Friday, the office of the presidency said that “Erdogan’s ‘Hitler’s
Germany metaphor’ has been distorted by media outlets and has been used
in the opposite sense.”
It
said Mr. Erdogan had used the example to demonstrate that an executive
presidency does not depend on a federal system of government.
“If
the system is abused, it may lead to bad management resulting in
disasters as in Hitler’s Germany,” the statement said. “The important
thing is to pursue fair management that serves the nation.”
Mr.
Erdogan became Turkey’s first popularly elected president in August
2014, having dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade as prime
minister. Since assuming the new post, he has aggressively campaigned to
rewrite the Turkish Constitution and establish an executive system of
government.
His
consolidation of power has had a potent effect on Turkish society.
Critics say Mr. Erdogan’s divisive rhetoric, in which he has denigrated
opponents as terrorists or traitors, has helped polarize the country.
A government crackdown on dissent — including a growing campaign of intimidation against the opposition news media, with a mob of his supporters attacking newspaper offices ahead of the November election — has raised concerns domestically and abroad about Turkey’s commitment to democracy.
To
change the Constitution, Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party,
which regained its parliamentary majority in November, needs support
from opposition parties, who fear that such a system would consolidate
too much power in Mr. Erdogan’s hands.
Last
week, Turkey’s main opposition party said it would back some changes to
an outdated Constitution, which was drawn up by the military after a
1980 coup, but it does not support an all-powerful presidential system
envisioned by Mr. Erdogan.
Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the leader of Turkey’s main opposition
party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, that a presidential system would not lead to a
dictatorship.
“What
is right for Turkey is to adopt the presidential system in line with
the democratic spirit,” he said in a television interview this week.
“This system will not evolve into dictatorship, but if we do not have
this spirit, even the parliamentary system can turn into this
dictatorship.”
In Turkey, reaction to his remarks was strong on social media.
“now
let’s do a close comparison of hitler and Erdogan,” one person wrote on
Twitter. “The difference is that Hitler was a bit shorter.” That remark
later appeared to have been deleted.
People also shared an animated image of Mr. Erdogan’s face changing into Hitler’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment