Parliament passes AKP’s Constitutional amendments but not without a hitch
News, Etc. Turkish National Assembly passed the constitutional amendments package in the early hours of Friday with 336 votes after a three-week tumultuous marathon debate that witnessed deputies coming to fisticuffs with each other and sent it to President Abdullah Gul for ratification to be submitted to a national referendum later this year. According to the Turkish Constitution, amendments to the basic law that is passed by the legislative assembly with a three fifths majority should be submitted to a plebiscite while two thirds majority is sufficient for such constitutional legislation to go into force automatically. The constitutional amendments drafted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) did suffer a setback earlier in the week when some 8 to 10 defectors from the ruling party rejected Article 8 that was supposed to give the final say in party closure trials at the Constitutional Court to the Parliament. The article received only 227 votes, 3 short of the necessary 330 resulting in dropping the measure from the package. AKP deputies who rejected Article 8 sent shock waves through the ranks of the ruling party but Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan seemingly controlling his usual wrath said, “The deputies used their right to express their free will.” However, he blamed the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) for not participating in the vote. The predecessor of BDP, Democratic Society Party (DTP) was shut down by the Constitutional Court last year on charges of violating the unity and integrity of the nation. AKP deputies including the former Industry Minister Kursad Tuzmen attacked Faruk Koca, another AKP deputy close to Erdogan who was seen in the lobby drawing up a list of possible defectors. CHP taking the package to the Constitutional Court Immediately after the Parliament passed the amendments, the main opposition Republican Peoples Party […]