AK Party meets with opposition parties to form consensus on parliamentary bylaws
by Elif Petek Samatyalı
ANKARAJul 16, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Elif Petek Samatyalı
Jul 16, 2016 12:00 am
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Group Deputy Chairman Naci Bostancı, Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chairman Levent Gök, National Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Chairman Erkan Akçay and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Group Deputy Chairman İdris Baluken met on Thursday for the first time to discuss the amendment concerning Parliament's internal regulations. Bostancı said: "Our aim is to make an internal regulation amendment by forming a consensus [with opposition parties]."
The meeting was held at the meeting room of the Secretariat General of the Grand National Assembly and lasted one hour and 45 minutes. The next meeting will be held on July 18 at 2 p.m.
Addressing the demands of opposition deputy chairmen, Bostancı said that he will be forwarding the requests to Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım as well as making sure that they are evaluated by the authorized AK Party committees.
Speaking right after the meeting, Bostancı touched on the joint demand of the three opposition parties for a 24-hour broadcast from Parliament during the amendment meetings.
"These requests concerning the broadcast are not new. If we consider the general practices in parliaments, it is possible to see many other examples. Keeping this in mind, we will carry out an evaluation concerning the possible effects of a broadcast from the Parliament."
The CHP's Gök also emphasized the importance of the broadcast, adding that the CHP will go as far as possible with the negotiations after hearing the answer concerning the broadcast demand. Gök said that his party proposed to give up the omnibus bill and basic law practices, but could not get any answers to the proposal yet, adding: "In case of forming a consensus amongst ourselves, we would like to make these issues debatable in these general meetings, with the condition of providing a certain amount of number or signatures."
Also mentioning the importance of the broadcast, the MHP's Akçay said the discussions were quite fruitful in terms of making a general assessment. "Parliament should be working more efficiently in order to serve for the purpose of a strengthened democracy, which does not mean the fast approval of new laws by the Parliament," Akçay said, as well as stressing the necessity to let the opposition parties become more active in politics.
The AK Party's Muş, however, criticized statements from CHP members opposed to the AK Party changing Parliament's internal regulations. Claiming it is anti-democratic rhetoric, he said: "It is nothing other than an attempt to suspend the works of the legislature and Parliament," underlining that the CHP will not be able to prevent the ruling AK Party from making amendments in terms of how democracy works.
Keep up to date with what’s happening in Turkey,
it’s region and the world.
You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.