Erdogan use of the term 'padishah system' seems to confirm that he sees the presidency as 'Turkish Sultan'

Erdogan use of the term 'padishah system' seems to confirm that he sees the presidency as 'Turkish Sultan'. (HD).

Refusing to remain silent on insisting on the need to scrap Turkey’s parliamentary system, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has given clues to his favorite semi-presidency model.

Erdoğan also called on citizens to vote in favor of “a new constitution” in upcoming parliamentary elections.

“In my opinion, Britain is a semi-presidency. The predominant constituent is the queen,” Erdoğan said late Jan. 29, in a bid to justify his aspirations for a systemic change in Turkey, suggesting that the United Kingdom was run as a semi-presidential system in which the will of the queen is dominant.

His comments on the largely ceremonial monarchical system in the U.K. and its hereditary monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, came after he was reminded of opposition criticism that he actually wants to be a “sultan” through the presidential system.

“Look, is there a ‘padishah system’ in America at the moment? When it is America, it is not a padishah system; when it is Brazil, it is not a padishah system; when it is South Korea, it is not a padishah system, when it is Mexico, it is not a padishah system.

I mean, why is it only a padishah system when an idea like this is floated in Turkey?” Erdoğan said during a live interview on public broadcaster TRT Haber. Read the full story here.