Charter change will allow president to annul parliament: Main opposition leader

GEBZE

The new system that may be brought by charter change will allow the president to annul the parliament, form a cabinet and be free from a confidence vote, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said. 

“They are saying that there is no authority to annul the parliament. Even the current constitution has that authority. If the government cannot be formed during the 45 days after the election, the president can annul the parliament. With the amendment, the president can abolish the parliament whenever he wants. The new system consists of a new government to be formed and it will never ask for a vote of confidence,” Kılıçdaroğlu said in the northwestern province of Gebze on March 28. 

Dwelling on his criticism of the constitutional amendment, Kılıçdaroğlu reiterated his earlier comments on the new system anticipated to be brought by charter changes, saying that most of the authorities granted to the president should remain to be the parliament’s authority. 

“If there will be a re-election, the parliament will make the decision. Why should one person be able to annul the parliament at his own wish without any reason? Any understanding that is based on one person or one political party will drive Turkey into a catastrophe,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. 

He also stated that the constitutional amendment does not specify the number or the field of the ministries, and leaves the initiative to form a ministry, attain a minister and decide on the duties of the ministries to the president. 

“Today, the number of ministers, the names of the ministries, duties, and authorities of these ministries are determined by the parliament. With the new system, nobody knows the number of the ministries. It is not certain. Only one person could know that. There can be 10 or 100 ministries if he wants, or there would not be any,” he said. 

“Today, if a minister conducts malfeasance, the parliament issues an interpellation about him. The ministers act accordingly because they would be asked for an account by the parliament. With the new model, none of the ministers or the vice president will be questioned by interpellation,” he said, adding that the parliament’s authority to supervise the government would be lifted with the new system. 

“The ministers and vice presidents will enjoy life-long impunity,” he said. 

Atatürk was never a ‘one man’

Kılıçdaroğlu also recalled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s earlier comments about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, who he said was initially a “one man” during the one-party regime of the founding years of the republic in the 1920s and 1930s.

“Atatürk was never a ‘one man.’ There was a congress in Erzurum. There was a congress in Sivas. The authority to annul the parliament was tried to be given in the 1924 constitution, but the parliament rejected it,” he said.