Parliamentary commission finalizes report on former ministers
by Merve Aydoğan
ANKARAJan 12, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Merve Aydoğan
Jan 12, 2015 12:00 am
The General Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) will make critical decisions this coming week. One of the most discussed topics since last week was the decision by the 14-member Parliamentary commission to not send former ministers Zafer Çağlayan, Muammer Güler, Erdoğan Bayraktar and Egemen Bağış to the Constitutional Court. The investigative commission report has been finalized and is waiting to be presented to the General Committee at Parliament this week.
The General Committee is expected to meet within the next 10 days to discuss the report by the Parliamentary commission. According to local sources, the exact calendar of the TBMM is to be finalized this week and a meeting may be booked for Friday. Additionally, all of the opposition parties, including the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), will be seeking an absolute majority vote to send the former ministers to the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court had been criticized by the majority of the public for its rulings, which are considered as being highly influenced by members of the Gülen Movement that has infiltrated the judiciary. Thus, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) believes that a possible trial at the top court would provide a chance for Gülenists to take decisions that solely aim to harm the party, which overcame an alleged coup attempt by the same group.
Furthermore, discussions on exchanging the external security of jails and prisons from the gendarmeries to the Ministry of Justice within the next five years will continue. Although the first part of the proposed legislation was approved last week, the discussions will continue until Tuesday. In addition, the Parliament will address the regulations on the Retail Trade bill, which includes the establishment of the "Retail Data System" under the structure of the Ministry of Customs and Trade. Also, regulations on military laws will be discussed in Parliament this week.
On Tuesday, the Internal Affairs Commission will also discuss the proposed legislation on domestic security while the EU integration Commission will discuss the bill regarding the protection of personal data on Wednesday.
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