The General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament will begin the new week on Tuesday, returning from a recess on the occasion of Qurban Bayram, or Eid al-Adha. The main item on the assembly’s agenda will be a new law on land use, aiming to improve agriculture and forestry.
Under the new bill, special administrations controlled by provincial governorates, municipalities and other public institutions will be responsible for safety measures to prevent accidents and losses that may arise from water structures and will be mandated to report to the government’s State Hydraulic Works (DSI) about any problems. If a hydroelectric power generation facility fails to comply with the operating instructions and program determined by DSİ or fails to remedy identified deficiencies, the company will be subject to an administrative fine ranging from TL 50,000 to TL 100,000 ($1,090 to $2,020) per megawatt of the facility’s installed hydraulic capacity. The total penalty amount may not be less than TL 250,000 and may not exceed TL 5 million.
The General Directorate of Forestry will establish carbon sink forests to contribute to combating global climate change and to increase the greenhouse gas absorption capacity of forests.
The deadline for projects carried out or commissioned by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works without a license under bilateral cooperation agreements, as well as projects included in previous years’ investment programs, will be extended from Dec. 31, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2040.
No electricity, water or natural gas connections or subscriptions shall be provided for any structure or facility constructed without the required permits. Administrative authorities, institutions, and organizations that violate this provision shall be subject to an administrative fine of TL 100,000 for each subscriber connection.
Under a planned amendment to existing laws, sugar beet prices shall be determined each year based on an agreement reached between natural and legal persons operating sugar factories and producers and/or their representatives.
Separately, the assembly will discuss a bill about alcoholic drinks. Alcoholic drink producers, importers and those who market the alcoholic drinks will be banned from using their logo or similar assets associated with their logos and names while sponsoring any event.
Elsewhere, Parliament’s planning and budget committee will hold a session where it will discuss a bill on regulations regarding Turkish National Police and the media. Internal Affairs Committee will discuss a bill on Turkish Red Crescent while a committee set up to investigate school shootings will hold a new session.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, parliamentary groups of parties will hold their own conventions where parties’ chairs usually address lawmakers and supporters. The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) may skip this week’s parliamentary group meeting since its chair, Özgür Özel, was replaced with his predecessor, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, after the former was reinstated by a court in a trial over vote-buying allegations in the 2023 vote that brought Özel to power. Özel was assigned as parliamentary group chair, though traditionally, the party’s chairs address the parliamentary group meetings.
