Parliament enters Eid al-Adha holiday recess

ANKARA

AA Photo

The Parliament today enters its Eid al-Adha recess and around 50 lawmakers have gradually been departing for Mecca in order to perform the hajj rituals.

Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ and 40 lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and 10 from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are expected to go on pilgrimage and return to Turkey next week.

After the recess ends on Oct. 30, Parliament’s General Assembly will first debate the government-backed municipality bill which was passed in the Internal Affairs Commission late on Oct. 21.

The ruling party’s efforts for constitutional amendments to reschedule local elections from March 2014 to Oct. 27, 2013, as well as for its bid to lower the age of parliamentary deputies from 25 to 18 are expected to top the political agenda after the recess, as the AKP needs the opposition’s support in order to achieve required 367-vote majority in Parliament for constitutional amendments.