Parliament set to establish 4-party statutory decree technical committee

Following the recently held cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace on Monday chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told media members that a Parliament "technical committee" is to be established. The committee is to receive feedback and opinions on the statutory decrees from the opposition parties.

Under the state of emergency declared shortly after the failed July 15 coup attempt, the government agreed upon a number of statutory decrees that the Republican People's Party (CHP) had opposed.

The proposed technical committee on the statutory decrees is to include members from all four major political parties: the Justice and Development Party (AK), CHP, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). The ruling AK Party's group deputy chairman, Naci Bostancı, met with the opposing-party's group deputy chairmen where they all exchanged opinions on the statutory decrees as well as addressed the agenda of the new legislative session.

As Deputy Prime Minister Kurtulmuş had stressed on Monday, the committee will not be authorized to declare statutory decrees. He emphasized that the AK Party government aims to maintain coordination between the political parties through the establishment of the committee. Also commenting on the establishment on Parliament's statutory decree committee, another AK Party group deputy chairman Mustafa Elitaş, informed media members that the political parties have yet to decide on committee members appointments. During a state of emergency, the Cabinet has the right to issue statutory decrees under the president of the Republic without regard to routine procedures and restrictions in Article 91 of the Constitution. These decrees are first published in the Official Gazette and then submitted to Parliament for ratification. According to the CHP's appeal, decree laws issued during state of emergencies should be submitted to Parliament and be discussed within 30 days, but this procedure has not been fulfilled as the Parliament was on recess and just recently began its new legislative year.