by Stephen Lendman

Erdogan heads a fascist police state. As a valued NATO member, Washington ignores his domestic crimes, uses its regime to advance its imperial objectives.

On Thursday on return from Saudi Arabia, he was asked if a presidential system is compatible with Turkey’s unitary structure.

“There are examples around the world,” he said, including earlier in “Hitler’s Germany,” citing the Nazi regime perhaps as his ideal way to run Turkey, saying he wants things more streamlined for more effective decision-making - code language for wanting iron-fisted rule, all challengers and critics eliminated.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lied, saying “(w)hat is right for Turkey is to adopt the presidential system” - with a phony democratic facade, he stopped short of explaining.

Claiming “dictatorship” won’t follow belies Turkey’s current state. Erdogan wants new constitutional powers under a presidential system affording him unchallenged power.

Opposition parties condemn his power-grabbing scheme, his rage for one-man rule - with no parliamentary oversight or opposition, the way Hitler ruled Nazi Germany.

Opposition Cumhuriyet broadsheet journalist Ceyda Karan believes Erdogan will force a hardline presidential system, achieving it his strategy for dictatorial rule.

Social and Political History Professor Ronald Suny calls his scheme “dangerous” with millions of Turks fundamentally opposed, risking inflammatory conditions - a prescription for possible “civil war” besides all else ongoing regionally.

Erdogan is systematically solidifying his power grab, imprisoning political opponents and critics.

On New Year’s eve, an Istanbul rubber-stamp court sentenced former AKP ruling party Turkish lawmaker Feyzi Isbasaran to nearly three years imprisonment - for critical regime tweets.

Opposition CHP parliamentarian Eren Erdem faces treason charges for exposing sarin gas shipments to ISIS via Turkish territory, Ankara doing nothing to stop it.

Erdogan supports terrorism while claiming to combat it, supplying arms, munitions, training and safe haven areas for ISIS and other takfiri terrorists - allied with Washington’s imperial agenda for his own self-interest.

Now he wants unchallenged tyrannical powers under the mantle of presidential rule, Ankara’s constitution rewritten to oblige him. Critics strongly oppose his power-grabbing scheme.

Turkey enjoyed nearly 140 years of parliamentary governance - despite four military coups and execution of a prime minister. It never took steps to shift to iron-fisted one-man presidential rule.

Citing Adolph Hitler as a leader governing effectively this way shows his desire to emulate one of history’s greatest criminals - a prescription for greater regional war than already, maybe direct confrontation with Russia.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html