quote:

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.

A Turkish official told Reuters the comments had been taken out of context and that his comments were meant to demonstrate that an executive presidency can exist in a unitary state and does not depend on a federal system of government, and that neither a presidential nor parliamentary system is a guarantee against abuse of power.

"There are good and poor examples of presidential systems and the important thing is to put checks and balances in place," the official said. "Nazi Germany, lacking proper institutional arrangements, was obviously one of the most disgraceful examples in history."