Turkish Parliament head to begin leaders’ tour

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Çiçek will attempt to resolve the Constitution deadlock by meeting leaders. AA photo

Parliament head Cemil Çiçek will be meeting Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli June 9, in the first of a series of meetings in accordance with the process of working on a new Constitution.

The meeting is scheduled to take place at 2:00 p.m., and will be followed by a meeting between Çiçek and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Gültan Kışanak, which is set an hour later than the first meeting.

The last meeting of the day will be with Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

The meetings aim to speed up the process that has been experiencing a potential deadlock concerning the Constitution Commission’s work.

Çiçek previously asked for appointments from party leaders in line with the planned leaders’ tour to resolve issues concerning the new Constitution. He is also set to meet with the prime minister, but the date of the meetings remains unknown.

The writing of the Constitution remains a divisive issue, with criticism raised from opposition benches towards the lack of progress made. CHP deputies have furiously argued that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was actually using so-called slowness in the Commission’s work to impose its own priorities, such as the presidential system proposal, as a fait accompli and for eventually “escaping from the table.”