Senior AKP deputies request easing of three-term ban from President Erdoğan

Nurcay Babacan ANKARA

Dozens of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lawmakers, including a number of former ministers, who are banned from running for parliament in the upcoming elections due to the AKP’s internal three-term limit, have met with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to demand an easing of the rule.

Some 68 lawmakers reportedly met with Erdoğan over a dinner and sought to persuade the president about the “importance of some figures continuing to stay in politics for the sake of party.”

Erdoğan, who is known to be against a change, reportedly preferred to adopt a softer tone and told the lawmakers to discuss the issue with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, saying he is the one who should decide about the issue.

According to sources, Davutoğlu is also not in favor of a change being made to the rule.
A number of senior AKP figures who were in parliament even before the founding of the AKP, as well as some who founded the party alongside Erdoğan, will have to abandon politics because of the three-term rule.