Six opposition parties discuss roadmap for return to parliamentary system

Photo: Bahadır Erdem/Twitter

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Opposition parties are discussing to lay out a roadmap for the country's return to what they call an "enforced parliamentary system."

In the third of their meetings at the parliament yesterday (October 6), they agreed on an impartial and non-partisan president whose appointment powers are restricted.

Strengthening the parliament and making it "functional" again was also among the issues that the parties agreed on.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), its ally İYİ (Good) Party, the Felicity Party (SP), the Democratic Party (DP), as well as the two offshoot movements of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — the Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party and the Future Party (GP) — are the parties that take part in the meetings.

The CHP and the İYİ Party have parliamentary groups while the SP, DP, DEVA have one MP each. The GP is not represented in the parliament.

Turkey switched to the presidential system after a referendum in 2017. Since then, the opposition has criticized the system for weakening the parliament and undermining judicial independence by granting unchecked powers to the president.

"A firm agreement"

After the meeting, İYİ Party Vice Chair Bahadır Erdem said they agreed to hold weekly meetings and prepare a report about the principles that they agree on.

"The current constitution does not suit Turkey, it is the cause of all the wrongs. This is our common denominator," he said. "We have a firm agreement on changing the constitution in favor of the people."

He noted that there are few examples of six parties coming together in Turkey's recent history, which shows how much a change in the system is needed.

He stressed these meetings do not concern the alliances for the next elections, which are scheduled for June 2023.

Mustafa Yeneroğlu, the vice-chair and the only MP of the DEVA Party, said that they might discuss the law on political parties, the internal regulation of the parliament, the election law and the political ethics law in the meetings to be held.

The six parties agreed on forming a secretariat to prepare a joint text out of their recommendations, BBC Turkish reported. They agreed that the parliamentary powers for legislation, checking the government and determining the budget should be reformulated.

While the parties agreed that the president should not be a allowed to be a member of a political party, whether they should be elected by popular vote or parliament will be discussed in the further meetings.

In a 2007 referendum, it was accepted to elect the president with a popular vote. In 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became the first president elected by the votes of the people rather than the parliament.

The six parties also agreed on changing the election procedures for high judicial organs, increasing the parliamentary power in their elections. (DE/SO/VK)