AKP sets road map for presidential system

ANKARA

Lawmakers and ministers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will gather for a three-day annual consultation meeting to clarify a road map for constitutional changes that will include the imposition of a presidential system amid a post-coup purge.

Prime Minister and AKP leader Binali Yıldırım is holding a three-day meeting with his party’s lawmakers and ministers in the central province of Afyonkarahisar on Oct. 21-23 to discuss topics such as a constitutional draft that will include a presidential system, the post-coup attempt purge and operations currently being conducted in Iraq and Syria.

Before the meeting, Yıldırım gathered with Afyonkarahisar tradespersons and, subsequently, businesspeople at the Afyonkarahisar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

AKP to set road map for presidential system 

As the AKP is planning to submit a constitutional draft that introduces a presidential political system in the coming weeks, the burning agenda of the meeting was the constitutional draft and a presidential system.

Yıldırım has formed a team of deputies and ministers to work on the charter amendment. The team has informed the AKP about the process and details. After the consultation camp, the charter will be introduced to two of the opposition parties in parliament, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), as the AKP has refused to work with the third biggest party in parliament, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

After the bilateral discussions with the two opposition parties, AKP will submit the draft to parliament. AKP officials indicate that the party anticipates a referendum on the draft in April following approval in parliament in January.

Ministers inform lawmakers about processes

During the program, ministers also planned to hold special meetings to inform parliamentarians about the developments in the economy and security. They were to brief lawmakers about operations following the failed July 15 coup and the latest situation in the economy. Security issues and Turkey’s stance on international operations in Syria and Iraq were expected to be on the agenda of the meetings as well.