AKP awaits opposition’s response on constitutional amendment: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) waits to see the response of the opposition parties through the parliament process of their constitutional amendment proposal, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 19.

“Since the constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority in the general assembly {of the parliament], we brought our proposal to the parties in the parliament. We submitted our proposal to the parliament. We are waiting for the processes in the parliament,” Erdoğan said at the Women’s Labor Summit.

“It will once again become clear who is the abuser of women’s rights,” he said, referring to any opposition party that would object to the amendment proposal on the use of headscarf and family.

At least 400 votes out of 600 lawmakers are needed to amend the constitution. Votes between 360 and 400 will take the amendments to referendum. The AKP and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) need 26 votes to take the amendments to referendum.

Citing a recent child abuse scandal that sparked debate in society, Erdoğan said, ”We have never approved, and we do not approve, of our girls getting married before they reach legal age. Childhood sexual abuse is neither a humane nor an Islamic act that can never be accepted.”

The government institutions intervened in the case in which a woman claimed that she was married off at the age of 6, he said.

“Unfortunately, problems related to underage marriages have been experienced for a long time in our country. The problem has been solved to a great extent in the last period, except for very exceptional cases,” Erdoğan stated.

The president criticized the approach of some circles to Islam and religious foundations in the country and said, “Those who attack our nation’s faith through an isolated incident, and those who slander our foundations and associations, are trying to hide this grave picture behind them with the noise they make.”

The government will neither allow girls to be abused nor the nation to be offended, Erdoğan said and reiterated his objection to LGBT communities.

“The main issue that those who deal with the problems of women, youth and children should seek solutions for are perverted currents that threaten our children altogether. The thing called LGBT is not in our book. But is it in the CHP’s book?” he asked.