ISTANBUL
The Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
Thursday's dailies mainly focused on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks about creating an executive presidency in Turkey.
“‘Elected president cannot become a dictator,’” MILLIYET quoted Erdogan as saying, a reference to an ongoing debate about whether the country needs an executive presidential system, a move strongly backed by the government.
Quoting Erdogan -- who was speaking at a trade meeting in Ankara -- AKSAM reports: “An elected president, who will answer to his people for every one of his actions, cannot become a dictator or a one-man (state)."
STAR reported Erdogan saying: “Is there a dictatorship in the U.S., Brazil, France?” a reference to democratic countries that have presidential systems.
HABER TURK also reported that Erdogan repeated his “presidential system” demand.
Erdogan has been pushing for a far-reaching constitutional amendment to allow for a new presidential system in Turkey, since he was elected as head-of-state last August.
In other news, dailies also cover news about a Syrian shell landing in southern Turkey in an incident which injured five people.
“Iranian missile from Damascus,” said MILLIYET reporting that it was understood that the rocket was an Iranian-made missile fired by Syrian government forces at opponents.
The newspaper added that the explosion left a wide crater in the Reyhanli district of Turkey’s southern province of Hatay.
“(Bashar) Assad shelled, Patriots slept,” said HURRIYET, adding that NATO-deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey’s southern provinces of Adana, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep to protect country’s border had failed to work.
Dailies also covered latest developments on Tuesday’s deadly plane crash that claimed 144 passengers’ and six crew members’ lives in southern France.
An Airbus A320 operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings low-cost airline crashed en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf.
HURRIYET reported that 16 students who won a draw to go to Spain for an exchange course had been onboard.
According to AKSAM, said the crashed jet had to wait in the runway for “hours” before it took off.
