Turkish PM desires unlimited authority: CHP leader

ANKARA

CHP leader says there is no separation of powers in practice in Turkey. DHA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s suggestion that the government’s main obstacle was its separation of powers is an indication of his enthusiasm for having unlimited authority, the main opposition leader has said.

“In fact, I know exactly what the prime minister intends. He wants everything he wishes to be legislated at Parliament while the judiciary does not object to any of those wishes. He desires the authority that [Ottoman] sultans did not have,” Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said Dec. 18 during a meeting with a delegation from The Journalists Association.

Speaking at a ceremony in the Central Anatolian city of Konya, Erdoğan lamented Dec. 17 that a separation of powers was the main obstacle in front of the government and was preventing them from introducing “further services.”

“Even during our own governing tenure, we are having some troubles. Unfortunately, the errors within the system are the causes of those troubles. Since the system was built in a wrong way, we are facing up some unexpected troubles. Bureaucracy crosses our path or we face with the judiciary unexpectedly,” Erdoğan said.