CHP Chairman rebuffed over mixed remarks on presidential system

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said that his party is ready to accept main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's statement about switching from the current parliamentary system to an American-style presidential system. Hours after Yıldırım's statement, the CHP leader responded by backtracking from his acceptance of an American-style presidential system, saying that such a system would mean accepting a federal state system, which the CHP would object to.

Speaking to journalists in the Tavşanlı district of Kütahya province on Tuesday evening, Yıldırım said Kılıçdaroğlu has to make his mind up about whether he really favors the system in the U.S. or not. Yıldırım added that his ruling party repeatedly said it will not take a step that will jeopardize the unitarian structure of the country and that the presidential system can be implemented without having federal states.

In a televised interview last week, Kılıçdaroğlu said, "If you are going to bring a presidential system like the one in the U.S., then go ahead and bring it. But he [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] does not want to do that. There are laws, governments and local administrations." Yıldırım said his party will accept the idea and that the country should not waste the opportunity. Hours after these remarks, Kılıçdaroğlu spoke during a CHP parliamentary group meeting and retracted his earlier statement, saying that the American-style presidential system has federal states, in which "each state has its own law." He said his party will not support such a system, implying that the southeastern regions of Turkey should accept the autonomy of Kurdish states.