Erdogan: Presidential system to speed Turkey’s progress

By Gulsen Topcu

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said the advantage of a presidential system is that it would give Turkey the opportunity to develop much more rapidly.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Erdogan said the U.S. and Russia are two important examples, although their working systems are different.

“Let's establish a Turkish-style presidential system for Turkey. This will give Turkey an opportunity to develop much faster, so I defend it,” he said.

He said Turkey failed in the period coalition governments ruled the country.

Constitutional changes, in particular, the call for a presidential system, has been on the political agenda since Erdogan, a former prime and current AK Party leader, was elected to his post in August 2014.

That election was the first in which a Turkish president was chosen directly by popular vote.

Referring to the recent abortive coup and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), he said the terror group developed during a 40-year period and it sought to occupy all state institutions.

“On July 15, we faced a coup attempt by a group of soldiers infiltrated into our Armed Forces,” he said.

Led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, FETO is accused of orchestrating the coup attempt as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, and judiciary.

Erdogan urged Arabic countries where many FETO elements still exist, to be careful about terrorist activities on their soil.

“Tomorrow they could also be faced with paying for it,” he said.

He added that Turkey submitted additional files to the U.S. for Gulen’s extradition and provisional arrest. Because the extradition request was made within the framework and standards of the law, he said he expects the legal process to take place since Ankara made its first request last July.

“They [U.S.] wanted almost 10 terrorists from us; we gave nearly all of them. Why? We are strategic partners with them [U.S],” he added.