ANKARA, May 28: Turkish lawmakers traded blows on Monday during a stormy parliamentary debate on constitutional changes that would see the president elected by popular vote in a bid to resolve recent political turmoil.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer last week rejected one attempt to introduce the amendments pushed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Trouble started in the assembly after independent deputy Ummet Kandogan accused Sezer of harbouring “hatred” against Erdogan as he brandished a newspaper photo of the two sitting next to each other at military games last week, reportedly without exchanging a word.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) protested that the president was insulted and the row soon grew into an exchange of punches and kicks between several CHP and AKP deputies, prompting a break in the debate.
The AKP had rushed the reforms through parliament earlier this month after failing twice to get its presidential candidate elected by the assembly, as the current law requires, in the face of strong secularist opposition.
Sezer, who has often clashed with the government, returned the reform package to parliament on Friday, saying that there was “no justifiable and acceptable reason” to change the presidential election system.
He warned that the haste with which the amendments were introduced would lead to “a deviation from the parliamentary system” and “create far-reaching, irreparable problems.” The AKP responded that it would not back down.
If the bill is voted again unchanged, Sezer must either approve it or submit it to a referendum.
Under Turkish law, constitutional amendments are voted in two readings at least 48 hours apart. The defining second round of voting is expected on Thursday.
The AKP says the reforms are the solution to a political crisis which forced the sole presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, to withdraw.
The prospect of the AKP, the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement, providing the president alarmed secularists, who accuse the ruling party of seeking to increase Islam's role in politics and daily life.
Gul was virtually certain to be elected in the AKP-dominated house in later rounds, but the opposition boycotted two presidential votes on April 27 and May 6, denying the house the quorum for a valid ballot.
“When the candidates of other parties are elected there is no problem, but when it comes to the AKP... they say the regime is under threat. This is a gross lie,” AKP deputy Ayhan Sefer Ustun said at Monday's debate.
The main opposition accused the ruling party of acting with “a sense of vengeance” for having failed to secure Gul's election at the expense of creating a “degenerated parliamentary system.” “Let us not drag the country into fresh chaos,” CHP deputy Mehmet Ziya Yergok said.
The bill also calls for a once-renewable five-year presidential mandate instead of the current single, seven-year term and sets general elections every four years instead of five.
The political turmoil, exacerbated by a stiff warning from the military that it is ready to act to defend the secular system, forced Erdogan to bring general elections forward from Nov 4 to July 22.
Recent public opinion surveys show that after four and a half years in power, the AKP is still Turkey's most popular party, leading its opposition rivals by a wide margin.
The AKP has disowned its Islamist roots, pledged commitment to secularism and carried out reforms that stabilised the economy and secured the opening of membership talks with the European Union.
But its opponents say it still harbours Islamic ambitions, pointing to AKP opposition to a headscarf ban in universities and public offices, its encouragement of religious schools and a failed attempt to restrict alcohol sales.—AFP
