US system works too slowly, says Turkish PM

Metehan Demir - ANKARA / Hürriyet

PM Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized the presidential system in the United Sates for its ‘slow pace.’ DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticized the presidential system in the United Sates for its “slow pace,” reiterating his call to create a Turkish-style presidential system.

Erdoğan told a group of journalists while returning from Spain that criticism of moves to give the president more authority was unjust.

“The U.S. president cannot appoint an ambassador, he cannot even solely decide on the sale of a helicopter … That’s why we should create a Turkish-style presidential system,” he said.

Erdoğan mentioned a U.S. decision to sell attack helicopters to Turkey, which had waited for congress approval for years before a vote was finally held last year.

He said the possibility of having two legislative bodies, an upper and lower house, might be discussed, but he wants a single-body system because having two bodies slows down the process. Erdoğan said having one Parliament was sufficient to control the president.

“Parliament does the supervision job, having too many supervisors makes the system clumsy,” the prime minister said. “We should be practical and get results quickly.”

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) suggested earlier this month a “Turkified version of the U.S. executive system” for Turkey, preserving the unitary structure with a single Parliament and giving extraordinary authorities to the president.

In the proposal presented by the AKP in the “executive” section discussions at Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission on Nov. 20, the president will have the authority to dissolve Parliament, while Parliament will also be able to bring down the president.

Meanwhile, the prime minister also criticized the opposition’s stance in Parliament, especially with regard to a number of recent censure motions against Cabinet members.