"The office of the President of the Reich is unified with the office of the Chancellor. Consequently all former powers of the President of the Reich are demised to the Fuhrer and Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler. He himself nominates his substitute. Do you, German man and German woman, approve of this regulation provided by this Law?"
Adolf Hitler's 1934 referendum, abolishing the office of prime minister (chancellor) and concentrating all power in his own hands, was the final step in consolidating his control of Germany. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has just won a referendum abolishing the office of prime minister and concentrating all power in his own hands, is not another Hitler, but he is starting to look like another Putin.
He didn't win his referendum by Hitler's 88 percent majority, of course. He didn't even win it by the narrow 52 percent to 48 percent majority that decided the United Kingdom's Brexit referendum last June. He only got a hair's-breadth 51.3 percent of the vote, against 48.7 percent for keeping Turkey's existing parliamentary system. But it's still a victory, and if Erdogan can go on winning elections, he could have almost absolute power in Turkey until 2029.
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