President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Monday in Ankara that an amendment to the parliamentary internal regulations is necessary to accelerate the country's development, and it has been reported by government sources that the proposal for amendments has been postponed until the upcoming new term in September.
With Parliament currently heavily occupied, it is estimated that amending the parliamentary internal regulations and introducing comprehensive bylaws would take nearly five or six months, and to this end, the AK Party plans to introduce a mini-package of amendments that includes amendments to a few articles that the opposition frequently uses to occupy the agenda of Parliament.
President Erdoğan told AK Party deputies on Monday at the presidential palace that they need to "accelerate the pace, by putting these into practice in order to clear the way for Turkey. For me, changing the parliamentary internal regulations swiftly is the priority, because the current Rules of Procedure virtually ensures primitive behavior in the Parliament's present work. We need to get rid of this primitive behavior. Deputies on top of desks do not befit the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish people."
In line with the president's remarks, the Central Executive Committee (MYK) of the AK Party gathered previous day under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım. The main topic was to establish the Maarif Foundation to counter the Gülen Movement's global network of schools, a draft law concerning the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), regulations about retirees, a judicial reform package, and an omnibus bill draft, which is expected to be sent to Parliament. After the approval of the bill, deputies reached a consensus about Parliament going into recess. Constitutionally, parliament goes into summer recess on July 1, however the regulation alters that so that parliament will work until the end of July.
