Opposition postpones charter meeting to wait for Turkish PM’s response

ANKARA

Parliament Speaker Çiçek said he would withdrawal from the Commission.

Members of all three opposition parties in the de-facto dissolved Constitution Conciliation Commission postponed their meeting, scheduled to take place from Dec. 12 to Dec. 25, in order to wait for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s response to a letter sent by Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek.

In his letter to all four political party leaders, Çiçek stated that he would be declaring his withdrawal from the Commission.

Despite this, opposition lawmakers have held two meetings in the absence of Çiçek and deputies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) since Nov. 18, and were due to hold yet another meeting yesterday.

However, they have postponed their third meeting to Dec. 25. All three of the other party leaders have already sent their responses to Çiçek, and favor the idea of continuing the Commission’s work.

The opposition argues that the Parliament speaker had no right to unilaterally dissolve the Commission.

Nevertheless, regulations state that the panel would be automatically dissolved in the event of any party’s absence from three consecutive meetings. The three opposition parties are therefore planning to accuse the AKP of “leaving the Constitution table” if it does not attend the Dec. 25 meeting.