Parliament set to open with agenda on motions for former ministers

ANKARA

The Parliament entered recess on March 2 due to local elections held on March 30. AA Photo

The Turkish Parliament is set to hold its first meeting after returning from recess on April 8, having motions for the parliamentary inquiry against four former members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Cabinet facing graft charges.

The Parliament, which entered recess on March 2 due to local elections held on March 30, had actually gathered on March 19 for a stormy extraordinary session on a summary of proceedings for former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, former EU Minister Egemen Bağış, former Interior Minister Muammer Güler and former Urbanization and Environment Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar to be investigated.

The motions by both the CHP and the AKP will be read out at the April 8 General Assembly meeting, the Anadolu Agency reported April 6.

Four motions were submitted by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) to the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office for an inquiry, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) AKP submitted a single motion.

The CHP’s motions’ premise is “bribery,” while the AKP did not mention “bribery” for any ministers.

The recess officially ended on April 5 and the related parliamentary process for the motions, thus, began, the Anadolu Agency reported April 6, noting this process will end within one month after its beginning.

In the March 19 extraordinary session, the opposition parties demanded that the summary of proceedings be read out in the General Assembly in order to open them to the scrutiny of lawmakers, but Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Sadık Yakut of the AKP refused, arguing it would compromise judicial confidentiality. The CHP’s motion that demands the summary of proceedings be read in the General Assembly was rejected in a highly controversial 259-158 vote.