Parliament Speaker Çiçek brings new proposal for Constitution process

ANKARA

Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek has suggested that a new Constitution should be drafted by civil servants working at his office, and academics assigned by the four parties in Parliament, in an effort to find a way out from deadlocked charter negotiations.

“Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission has been negotiating for months. We have sufficient data and knowledge for a new Constitution. If they assign the Parliament Speaker’s office to draft the new Constitution, we can draw up a draft for the new charter as a whole, except for eight or 10 controversial articles. We can then submit it to the political parties and they can discuss the draft,” Çiçek said in a televised interview with private broadcaster CNN Türk on Oct. 3.

Having started its work two years ago, Parliament’s four-party Constitution Conciliation Commission declared numerous deadlines for the conclusion of their efforts to make a new Constitution up to now, but has failed to bear fruit.

Çiçek stressed that the parliamentary Commission had fallen short of accomplishing its goal of drafting a new charter on time.