Constitutional amendment: ‘Single man’ mooted

It is made all but impossible for the President, in whom all powers will be vested, to be prosecuted.  With the number of MPs increased to 600, the minimum age for parliamentary candidates is reduced to 18 and provision is made for backup MPs. With the president and parliament both empowered to call elections, the president will be able to exercise this power on his own while parliament will only be able to do so with a 60% majority (360). The president will be empowered to make top-level appointments, nominate ministers and deputy presidents and issue decrees. The president will be able to maintain links with his party. Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held on 3 November 2019. President Tayyip Erdoğan’s period in office will thus be extended by a further three months. Prime-Minister Binali Yıldırım will remain in his post until 2019. 

 
The 21-article constitutional amendment that the AKP submitted to the Speaker’s Office of parliament yesterday evening envisages the following provisions: The number of MPs increases to 600: There will be 600 instead of 550 MPs. MPs’ age: The minimum age for parliamentary candidates is reduced to 18 and those elected to parliament at this age will be exempted from military service.
 
 
Standby MPs will be created
 
Two elections at once: Parliamentary and presidential elections will be held on the same day every five years. MPs who have served their time will be able to stand for re-election. Standby MPs: In the event of lapse, dismissal, death or other reasons for a seat being vacated, the same political party will fill vacated seats with standby MPs. Candidates who were included on political parties’ lists of parliamentary candidates for constituencies but were unelected will be deemed to be standby MPs according to their ranking. Additionally, political parties will field a number of standby parliamentary candidates at general elections in each constituency that will be one-fifth of the total number of MPs to be elected and not less than two, while independent candidates will field one standby parliamentary candidate. If there are vacancies among their MPs, vacated seats will be filled initially by standby MPs who were on the list of actual candidates in that constituency but were unelected.
 
Should all the MPs in a constituency be elected from the same party, vacated seats will be filled by candidates on the list of standby MPs according to their ranking. MPs’ and parliament’s powers chopped: Parliament’s existing powers to ‘oversee ministers’ and the interpellation mechanism are annulled. MPs will only be able to submit written questions and will be unable to do so orally. Written questions may be submitted to deputy presidents and ministers such that these will be answered within no more than fifteen days. Presidential candidates will be Turkish citizens by birth: The President will be directly elected by popular vote from among candidates who are aged over 40, have completed higher education, have the capacity to stand for parliament and are Turkish citizens by birth. Political party groups and 100,000 voters: the provision for presidential candidates to be proposed in writing by twenty MPs is annulled, and only political party groups and political parties that obtained at least five percent individually or jointly of the total valid votes in the most recent general election, or at least 100,000 voters, may propose candidates.
 
Safeguard in the event of the death of a candidate
 
Safeguard for the possibility of the death of a candidate: The candidate who receives the simple majority of the valid votes in the presidential election will be deemed to have been elected. Should this majority not be obtained in the first election, a second round will be held on the second Sunday following this election. The two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round will participate in the latter election, and the candidate to receive the majority of the valid votes will be elected as president. Should one of the candidates entitled to contest the second round fail for any reason to stand, the second round will be conducted with the vacated candidacy being filled by another of the candidates in the first round with preference given to the one having obtained the highest number of votes. Should a sole candidate remain for the second round, this vote will be conducted in the form of a referendum. The president’s duties: He will appoint and dismiss the deputy presidents along with ministers and top-level public administrators. He will assign ambassadors to foreign countries and receive ambassadors assigned by foreign countries to Turkey. He will be able to sign and promulgate international treaties. He will be able to submit laws amending the constitution to referendum if he sees fit. He will define national security policies and take the necessary measures. He will represent the commander in chief of the Turkish Armed Forces and will decide on the deployment of the Turkish Armed Forces. Powers of decree: The president will be able to issue presidential decrees in matters relating to executive powers. Regulation by decree will not be possible over sections of the constitution governing basic rights and freedoms along with political rights. The issuing of decrees will not be possible in matters for which specific statutory regulation is envisaged by the constitution. The provisions of statute will prevail in the event of conflict between the provisions of presidential decrees and statute. Should parliament enact legislation on the same matter, the presidential decree will become ineffective.
 
He may issue regulations to enable statutes to be implemented, provided they are not in breach of these. Additionally, he will fulfil such duties to nominate and appoint and other such duties and also exercise such powers as are conferred in the constitution and statute.
 
Supreme Criminal Court virtually ruled out: On the allegation that the president has committed a crime, parliament may propose an investigation with the simple majority of the full number of its members (301). A commission may only be established with the secret vote of 60% of the full number of its members (360). A two-thirds majority (400) will then be needed for a decision to be passed to send the president to the Supreme Criminal Court. A president who is subject to a decision to initiate an investigation will be unable to call an election. A president who is convicted by the Supreme Criminal Court of a crime that prevents him from holding office will be removed from office. It will only be possible for a president to be tried before the Supreme Criminal Court once he has been removed from office. He will be able to appoint as many deputies as he wishes: The president will, following his election, be able to appoint one or more deputy presidents. Should the office of president become vacated for any reason, presidential elections will be held within 45 days. The deputy president will deputise for the president until such time as his replacement has been elected. If one year or less remains until the general election, fresh parliamentary elections and presidential elections will be held concurrently. If an MP is a minister: Deputy presidents and ministers will be appointed and dismissed by the president. If MPs are appointed as deputy president or minister they will vacate their seats. Deputy presidents and ministers can also be tried before the Supreme Criminal Court and this will require similar majorities to those needed for the president to be tried. Deputy presidents and ministers will have recourse to provisions on legislative immunity from prosecution for crimes that are unrelated to their duties.
 
The number of ministers will be established by decree: The establishing and abolishment of ministries, as well as their duties and powers together with their organisational structure will be regulated in presidential decrees.
 
Presidential privilege
 
President’s privileged position over dissolution: Parliament may call fresh elections with a 60% majority of the full number of its members (360). In such cases, the general election and presidential election will be held concurrently. If the president decides to call fresh elections, the general election and presidential election will be held concurrently. Should parliament call fresh elections while a president is in his second term, the president will be able to stand for a third time.
 
Power to proclaim a state of emergency vested in the president: The president will be able to proclaim a state of emergency for a period not exceeding six months in the entire country or part of it in the event of war, the emergence of a situation that necessitates war, the outbreak of rebellion or a powerful and physical uprising against the country or the Republic or the spreading of acts of violence that pose an internal or external threat to the integrity of the nation, the emergence of widespread outbreaks of violence aimed at eliminating the constitutional order or basic rights and freedoms, serious breakdown in the public order, natural disaster, dangerous epidemics and serious economic crisis. The decision proclaiming the state of emergency will be promulgated in the Official Gazette on the day it is passed and will be submitted to parliament for approval on the same day. For the duration of the state of emergency, the president will be able to issue decrees. These decrees will be debated in parliament and voted on within one month. Otherwise the decrees will automatically become ineffective.
 
Authorities regulated by decree: The establishing, duties, powers and responsibilities of public institutions and bodies under the remit of central authority will be regulated by presidential decree. Military judiciary to be abolished: The Military Court of Cassation and the Military Supreme Administrative Court will be abolished.
 
Structure of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors to change: The number of members of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors will be adjusted from 22 to 12. Five members apart from the chair will be nominated by the president, while six members will be nominated by parliament.
 
Proposed budget: The president will submit his proposed budget to parliament at least 75 days in advance of the start of the financial year. If the proposal is rejected, the previous year’s budget will be increased in line with the official revaluation rate and implemented.
 
The Gendarmerie to leave the National Security Council: The Gendarmerie General Command will lose the place it currently has on the National Security Council. The deputy presidents will gain places on the National Security Council. The organisation and duties of the National Security Council will be regulated by decree.
 
Powers of local authorities to be determined by the president: The duties, powers, authorities, financial and policing affairs along with mutual ties and relations with central authority of local authorities, and the forming of alliances between them for the provision various public services, will be regulated by presidential decree.
 
It will be possible to challenge decrees before the Constitutional Court: Presidential decrees will be subject to review by the Constitutional Court.
 
Two parties will be able to apply to the Constitutional Court: The two political party groups having the most members in parliament and MPs making up at least 20% of the total number of seats (120) will be able to apply to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of laws and presidential decrees.
 
Legislation vetoed by the president: Legislation vetoed by the president will only be promulgated by the president if approved by the simple majority of the full number of members of parliament (301).
 
The State Auditing Board will conduct investigations: The State Auditing Board will also be able to conduct administrative investigations as well as inspect public institutions and bodies along with professional organisations and foundations. The armed forces will also fall under the State Auditing Board’s remit.
 
The number of members of the Constitutional Court to fall: Along with the abolition of the Military Court of Cassation and the Military Supreme Administrative Court, the number of members of the Constitutional Court will fall from the current 17 to 15. The one year rule for elections to be eliminated: The provision for both elections to be combined if there remains less than one year between general elections and local elections will be dispensed with. In this case, local elections will be held in March 2019.
 
Gül: Joint agreement Parsak: We did not remain on the sidelines
Following the submission of the proposed constitutional amendment to the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office signed by 316 AKP MPs, the AKP’s Abdülhamit Gül and the MHP’s Mehmet Parsak held a joint press conference. The AKP’s Gül, stating that a de-facto situation emerged in Turkey following the 2007 referendum, said, “A hybrid system of governance came into being. The reason a crisis did not emerge had to do with a single party being in power.” Gül stated that in the aftermath of 15 July the nation had assigned the duty to politics of avoiding crises. Gül, noting that a change to the executive as the people had willed was needed, said, “This is a joint agreement, a national agreement. It is the text over which both parties have come to a common consent.” The MHP’s Mehmet Parsak, who recalled the 367 crisis and criticised the CHP, in noting that the amendment of the first four articles of the constitution was proposed at the commission set up in 2011 and there was debate over it being a Turkish constitution, also criticised the HDP without naming them. Parsak, noting that it would have been possible to remain on the sidelines while the process was ongoing but the MHP did not remain on the sidelines, said, “The MHP made constructive submissions to the process in line with its own political stance and the interests of the Turkish people.” Following their speeches, Parsak and Gül declined to accept questions from journalists and posed with a handshake.