ISTANBUL (AP) Add Turkey's prime minister to President Barack Obama's allies in a fight over health care which has paralyzed much of the U.S. government.
In a rare comment on U.S. domestic policy, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday praised Obama's health care law and expressed puzzlement that some are trying to block it.
"It's such a beautiful step and to tell the truth, Mr. Obama should be supported," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. "There are those who say: 'You cannot spend my earnings on others.' Now, how is this possible?"
Obama's 2010 health care law is at the center of a budget standoff in Washington that has led to a partial government shutdown.
Erdogan said the law benefits those who cannot afford health care. Citing a dictum from the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, Erdogan added that human life should be held above all other interests of the state.
