Turkish Parliamentary Speaker: Current charter has ‘passed expiry date’

Turkish Parliamentary Speaker: Current charter has ‘passed expiry date’

KONYA - Anatolia News Agency
Turkish Parliamentary Speaker: Current charter has ‘passed expiry date’

Speaking at a meeting organized by nongovernmental groups in Konya, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek says Turkey’s current constitution has ‘passed its expiry date.’ DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Turkey’s current charter is “passed its expiry date” and is incapable of carrying Turkey into the future, according to Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek.

“Those who say the current Parliament is [unable] to produce a new constitution only have fantasies in their minds,” Çiçek said yesterday at “Turkey Speaks,” a meeting organized by nongovernmental organizations in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

“The four parties of this Parliament cannot accept these arguments. The current Parliament will produce the new constitution. Our aim is to present it to our people by the end of this year,” Çiçek said.

Çiçek also said the Constitution Conciliation Commission, which has an equal number of representatives from each party represented in Parliament, will come up with a draft charter.

“Every segment of society is needed during the preparation period. We want to see what people have in mind. I believe society has been wasting its time for the past 30 years arguing about the Constitution – let’s not waste that energy anymore,” he said.

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