Erdoğan vows to try all ways to secure charter changes, including referendum

ANKARA

The ruling People Alliance is ready to take all necessary moves to approve its charter changes on headscarf and family, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, expressing his confidence that deputies from all political parties will support the amendments.

In an address to his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Nov. 2, Erdoğan informed that the constitutional amendment bill will be submitted to the parliament as soon after its writing is finalized in a meeting with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

“Along with resolving the problem on the use of headscarf so that it can never be brought back to the country’s agenda, this amendment will also constitute a test for the opposition, Erdoğan said.

“It will be clearly seen who is in favor of democracy, freedoms and family and who is in favor of fascism and aberration. I believe this bill will receive the support of a large group of lawmakers with different political views,” the president stated.

The amendments are expected to concern the articles 24 and 41, on freedom of religion and conscience and protection of the family and the children rights respectively. A change on article 24 will provide new guarantees to the female public servants and the private sector workers that they can’t be restricted with any sort of dress code. AKP officials say this amendment will guarantee both covered and uncovered female workers.

The discussion over the headscarf started after the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP) introduced a bill to the parliament to liberate the use of the headscarf in public and private spheres. The AKP, in reaction, challenged the main opposition party to undertake a constitutional change to resolve the matter forever.

The AKP and the MHP do not have enough majority to approve the amendments at the parliament. They need at least the support of 24 lawmakers from other parties to take the changes to a referendum.

“We are ready to take any step to get the amendments approved, including a referendum,” Erdoğan said.

He also recalled that the CHP, in the past, had done everything to ban the headscarf in the country, including the universities.

“Do you think we will forget all these? No, we won’t forget the oppression our daughters had faced,” he stressed.

Slamming the six-party opposition alliance, Erdogan claimed that the results of recent public opinion surveys have driven crazy, have driven the opposition leaders crazy. “They will continue to be driven crazy. We just need to continue to work in the field as we have been doing in the past 20 years,” he added.