- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
"Turkey’s Parliament has approved two constitutional amendments giving more powers to the president, who will now be able to sponsor new legislation and appoint the cabinet, local media report. The changes come at the expense of MPs’ rights to oversee the government ... The Parliament, for its part, will lose a sizeable portion of its powers ... According to Article 6, MPs will execute their authority over the government only through written requests for information, parliamentary inquiries, and “general meetings” to discuss issues relating to government’s actions ... The parliament will no longer be able to issue motions of no confidence either. This particular article, which largely strips the Parliament of its oversight authority, was approved by 343 of 550 lawmakers ... Erdogan said on Friday that he does not rule out calling early elections if MPs fail to introduce a full presidential system ... The Turkish strongman added that he hopes talks on constitutional reform will be finalized this week ... An all-out brawl erupted in the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday when MPs ... began to openly cast their votes in what was supposed to be a secret ballot ... Opposition lawmakers argued that the vote was held openly to put pressure on ruling party MPs and prevent them from voting against the changes ... spokeswoman for the CHP party, called the proposed changes a slide into a 'sultanate' ... When hundreds of people gathered outside the parliament building earlier in January to oppose the amendments, the Parliament’s security detail pushed protesters away from the gates and police then fired tear gas and deployed water cannon to disperse the crowd"
https://www.rt.com/news/373690-turkey-erdogan-executive-powers/
