Erdogan says Hitler's Germany exemplifies effective presidential system

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: Reuters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is pushing for executive powers, cites Hitler's Germany as an example of an effective presidential system, in comments broadcast by Turkish media on Friday.

Erdogan wants to change the Turkish constitution to turn the ceremonial role of president into that of a chief executive, a Turkish version of the system in the United States, France or Russia.

Asked on his return from a visit to Saudi Arabia late on Thursday whether an executive presidential system was possible while maintaining the unitary structure of the state, he said: "There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler's Germany.

"There are later examples in various other countries," he told reporters, according to a recording broadcast by the Dogan news agency.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-erdogan-hitler-idUSKBN0UF1T820160101

---

#NotTheOnion

[Feeling the Bern]

1. Erdogan, there a difference between effective and good. Hitler was neither if you didn't

fit into what the Nazis thought a person should be.

I would say something about Armenia, but that might be going a little too far.

[Yupster]

10. Yeah, Hitler wasn't even particularly competent

His work habits were plain weird and led to a very confused government.

[StevieM]

12. The Germans might have defeated the Soviet Union early on if Hitler had just stayed out of it

and listened to his generals.

It's interesting to think about what might have happened if Germany defeated the Soviets. How would the outcome of the war have changed, if at all? How would history have changed?

[Yupster]

13. Lots of what if books written on the subject

A fun short story is "The Phantom Tolbukhen" about a famous Soviet Marshall planning a counter offensive against the Germans in Russia.

It's only at the very end that you realize that the offensive he's diagramming isn't three Guards armies led by Kirov, Karpov and Ostrov, but actually him and the three guys. They're planning to attack a farmhouse in German-occupied Russia to get some food, long after the Germans conquered the Soviet Union winning the war. Very well written.

If you like this kind of stuff, Harry Turtledove's book "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" follows a Jewish family living in Berlin 50 years after Germany won WWII and WWIII (nuclear).

[KingCharlemagne]

19. Thanks for the brief annotated bibliography. I really enjoyed Robert Harris'

Fatherland, a noir police procedural set 20 years after the Nazis won in 1944.

[dlwickham]

30. was the one with Joe Kennedy as US president?

the German cop discovers what happened to the Jews in the Holocaust?

[KingCharlemagne]

32. Been at least 15 years since I read it. Don't remember who is U.S. Prez, but

yes the German detective pieces together what is going on.

[Renew Deal]

2. It looks like Edrogan is going to be 2016's biggest problem

Some third party predicted Turkey will invade Iraq and Syria in 2016. Let's hope that's not true.

[CJCRANE]

3. I'm glad he's revealed his true colors.

It makes life easier for those of us who were trying to point this out.

[christx30]

25. Just wait until we hear

about his final solution to the problem of the Kurds.

[saltpoint]

4. If Erdogan is into brutal tyrants and

death-driven megalomaniacs, then yes Hitler does come to mind.

But when I consider an "effective presidential system," Hitler does not come to mind.

[johnfunk]

5. Oy gevalt!

https://s.yimg.com/fz/api/res/1.2/kGBqMxnvKgc6eVIURaFRCQ--/YXBwaWQ9c3JjaGRkO2g9NDgwO3E9OTU7dz02MDA-/

[DetlefK]

6. He wouldn't like the new german presidential system.

The Federal President of Germany is the head of state. He has the last word on every piece of legislation. But he doesn't get elected by the people. The parliamentarians come together and hash out some non-partisan, non-controversial figure with good moral standing who every major party can accept as head of state. It's not so much an election as it's inter-party diplomacy and negotiation.

The Federal Chancellor of Germany is the head of government. He is de facto the most powerful person in Germany, in executive terms. But he doesn't get elected by the people either. Even though each party says "This guy of ours should be Chancellor", you won't find his name on the ballot. The would-be Chancellor is hashed out with intra-party diplomacy and negotiation before the election and then elected by the new parliament after the election.

This situation was created on purpose to prevent another situation like when Hitler became President and Chancellor at the same time.


EDIT:
I didn't really read the OP and overlooked that he clearly refered to Hitler's version of the german presidential system.

[dgibby]

7. Sounds like something Trump would say. n/t

[lovuian]

8. He's our ally by the way folks

who we've built up with weapons and his military is one of the largest in NATO

He's way more dangerous than Saddam Hussein

[Yupster]

16. I read a book on demographics a few years ago and this is one of the things it predicted

The idea is that Turkey is made up of two major regions, one the coastal region with Istanbul and lots of islands. This is the most prosperous and most educated part of Turkey. Many families have close family ties to Europe.

The other part is Anatolia where people are much more poor and much less educated and much more religious.

The first group is having 1.7 babies per woman. The second group is having 5-6 babies per woman. The prediction was that presidents from now on would be elected by that second group rather than the first. Expect Turkey to become more and more religious and less and less European, and expect lots of Turkish professionals to be moving to Europe.

[lovuian]

24. I'll bring up Sibel Edmunds and 911 and Turkey

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19015.htm

The Sunday Times reports that Edmonds, whose whistleblowing efforts have been studiously ignored by what passes for the news media in American news media, approached the Rupert Murdoch-owned British paper a month ago after reading a report there that an Al-Qaeda leader had been training some of the 9-11 hijackers at a base in Turkey, a US NATO alley, under the noses of the Turkish military.

[malthaussen]

9. Many times I have wondered why we always have the nicest friends.

Shouldn't the "land of liberty" be opposed to tyrants?

-- Mal

[still_one]

11. Well, Erdogan should no after what Turkey did to the Armenians. What a jerk

[LeftishBrit]

14. And Turkey wants to be a member of the EU...

No thanks, not a chance until they boot this fascist out!

[lark]

15. Hell, now there's two fascist on the world stage.

Erdogan and Trump.

[gregcrawford]

17. And this evil bag of pig excrement is an ALLY?!!?

The phrase, "unitary executive," was one that Cheney and the rest of the Bush regime loved to toss around. No matter how you parse it, it's nothing more than a convoluted euphemism for "DICTATOR."

[CanonRay]

18. I pretty sure this won't make Mr. Putin like him any better

The Russians have some very bad and very long memories of Hitler.

[KingCharlemagne]

21. And some 25 million ghosts - nt

[Coventina]

20. Uh, he needs to watch the classic Star Trek episode "Patterns of Force"

[Jack Rabbit]

22. My, what a comforting thought

I'd probably get a visit from Agent Mike if I said what the Turkish people should do to Ergogan. As an American, I don't think even our strong executive system has served us well and that our country would be better off if the presidency as we know it were abolished. However, Erdogan now uses the Third Reich as a model for his plans. That, of course, was the wet dream of an unhinged tyrant. If Erdogan thinks that worked well for Germany, he needs a remedial history lesson.

[Octafish]

23. You can tell a lot by a person's Role Models.

A Hell of a lot.

[Lionel Mandrake]

26. I'd suggest to anyone contemplating a reply to the OP

that you read the whole Reuters article, not just the OP, before you post. You will find that Erdogan did not praise Hitler.

[treestar]

28. I thought there was something inconsistent with his

saying he wanted a US style Presidency.

[Lionel Mandrake]

29. It could be an error in translation

from Turkish to English. Or maybe Erdogan was careless in saying something that could easily be misconstrued as praise of Hitler.

Like most politicians, Erdogan wants all the power he can grab. Let's hope the opposition frustrates him.

[Leontius]

27. Does anyone still doubt the danger of the destruction of democracy in Turkey.

[area51]

31. What?