Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raised eyebrows last year when he unveiled a grand new presidential palace on the outskirts of Ankara that was bigger than Buckingham Palace (and the Kremlin, and the White House). Now he has sought to boost his ongoing campaign for a presidential system in Turkey with claims that the Queen is in charge of Britain.

Erdoğan became the first Turkish president to be elected by popular vote last August after a decade in power as the country’s prime minister.

When taking up office he vowed to be an active president who would use his mandate to strengthen what had until then been a largely ceremonial post and to push for the necessary constitutional change that would turn Turkey’s parliamentary system into a presidential one.

On Thursday night, he looked to London for justification, arguing that Britain, a constitutional monarchy in which the Queen is head of state but where the power to make and pass legislation lies with an elected parliament, had much in common with the system he was looking to establish.

“Even England has a semi-presidential system,” Erdoğan claimed during a live broadcast on Turkish state television. “The person in charge there is the Queen.”

He went on to slam increasingly widespread criticism of undermining checks and balances in Turkey: “When it comes to the US, to Brazil, South Korea or Mexico, nobody says they are a monarchy. So when Turkey follows a similar idea, why does [a presidential system] here suddenly become a monarchy?”

Human rights groups have warned that Turkey is experiencing a “dangerous rollback” of human rights and freedoms under Erdoğan and the Justice and Development (AK) party government, with the media and judiciary increasingly under the direct influence – and the yoke – of the ruling party.

On Thursday, Erdoğan repeatedly claimed that Turkey needed a centralised political system in order to “strengthen the national will”.

“One has to be able to use the powers invested in you by the national will in the best possible way. But at the moment, I am not able to do that,” he said. “At the moment, you have to ask permission of three different people for each decision, for each appointment. One is constantly being hindered. The judiciary puts obstacles in the way. One cannot run a country like that. For me, that is the biggest flaw of a parliamentary system.”

According to a recent survey, 42.2% of Turks are not in favour of a presidential system in the country. If the AKP succeeds in winning 330 of the 550 seats in the Turkish parliament, they will be able to put constitutional change to a popular referendum, the outcome of which, many believe, will be in the AKP’s favour.

“It doesn’t matter that [Erdoğan’s] justifications – his words about the Queen or developed nations under a presidential system – are absurd,” said Cengiz Aktar, a political analyst. “The important point is that his supporters will believe it.”

Critics fear that a presidential system with Erdoğan at the helm will spell a near-dictatorship for Turkey: “It is clear that Erdoğan foresees [a presidential system] with himself at the centre of power,” said Aktar. “If this happens, there won’t be any possibility to challenge him or any of his decisions. This would be very bad not only for Turkey, but also for the whole region and for Europe.”