New charter works to resume in July

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The Constitution Conciliation Commission, which was to finish its work by the end of June, will continue to work throughout the next month.

The commission will meet on July 3 to keep working on the draft for a new Constitution and a new schedule will be formed afterwards.

The Constitution Conciliation Commission had decided early May to finalize the draft charter by the end of June. The Gezi Park protests that lasted more than 3 weeks have led to high political tension within the country and to the delay of the Commission’s work. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) plans to make the commission work for some time more and once back from the summer holiday. If no reconciliation has been reached, the AKP will bring its own proposal before the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Meanwhile, the four-party Constitution Conciliation Commission reached a near reconciliation concerning the method in which Constitution changes could take place. The parties have agreed upon the 330 votes needed for a majority to amend the Constitution. The proposed changes for the charter will be discussed at the plenary session twice and secret voting will be held to reach a resolution. Once the resolution is reached, the president will either choose to take it to the public through a referendum or put the resolution into force by having it published in the Official Gazette. The amendments to the Constitution, on which a referendum will be held, will need at least 60 percent of the registered voters’ ballots and half of the valid votes for it to take force.