Statutory decrees top General Assembly agenda

As Parliament began its second legislative session on Saturday, members of the body are to convene today for a General Assembly, with the state of emergency and statutory decrees topping the agenda.

While the political parties' group meetings are also to begin on Tuesday, the recently established Parliamentary Research Committee to investigate the Gülenist Terror Group's (FETÖ) July 15 coup attempt is also to hold its first meeting this week. The coup investigation committee will look into the coup attempt in the name of the Parliament, the public, and the Republic of Turkey.

Parliament began by extending the mandate to send military troops abroad for 13 months during its first convention Saturday of the new legislative year after a one-and-a-half-month recess. Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman stated during the opening that making a simple, civilian, democratic, libertarian and individual-centered new constitution is a top priority for this legislative year. In this respect, the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee is also expected to finalize its discussions and present its final reports to party leaders. In addition to the establishment of a new constitution, the ongoing state of emergency declared following the coup attempt is to be addressed by Parliament along with statutory decrees made during the three months of the state of emergency.

Both Kahraman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thanked the members of Parliament for their honorable stance during the July 15 coup attempt in which FETÖ-linked officers went as far as bombing the complex while deputies were inside to show solidarity, and the Parliamentary Research Committee is to begin its meetings this week. The committee, which has the right to conduct examinations at ministries, other governmental bodies, local administrations, universities, government business enterprises, banks and institutions founded by the authority granted by special law along with professional organizations including those with public institution status and public interest groups, is further expected to compile a report over the four-month period regarding its findings. Though 15 members of the committee from all political parties were identified prior to the parliamentary recess, the head of the committee along with the speaker and the secretary of the committee will be determined at the first meeting.