The Sabah Columnists' Club held a panel on Friday in the southern province of Mersin about the April 16 constitutional referendum where Sabah columnists underscored the importance of shifting to an executive presidency.

Daily Sabah Editor-in-Chief Serdar Karagöz, Sabah daily Managing Editor Yahya Bostan, Sabah daily Economy Editor Şeref Oğuz, Sabah daily columnist Fahrettin Altun and Daily Sabah columnist Ozan Ceyhun attended the panel titled, "Turkey votes on its future, Sabah daily columnists discuss the constitutional changes."

Daily Sabah Editor-in-Chief Karagöz stressed that the executive presidency is a need for Turkey: "It is a system that has been put together by taking examples from systems around the world and offers solutions to deadlocks," he said.Pointing to South Korea's growth since 1960 when the country shifted to a presidential system, Karagöz said that the reason why Turkey could not grow as much as South Korea is political instability.Daily Sabah columnist Ozan Ceyhun said that Europe has been carrying out "dirty propaganda" against Turkey. Ceyhun pointed to the recent ban on the distribution of Daily Sabah at the European Parliament (EP). Stressing that 230,000 Turkish citizens living abroad have already voted in the referendum, Ceyhun said that they have realized the other façade of Europe.

The proposed law gives executive powers to the president and vice president while abolishing the post of prime minister. It also lowers the age of candidacy for parliamentarians from 25 to 18 years of age and increases the number of parliamentarians from 550 to 600 in accordance with the country's growing population.