Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 19
By Jamila Jafarova - Trend:
Turkey's parliament will not be able to pass the new constitution until after the next general elections in June 2015, Fadi Hakura, a Turkey expert at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, the Chatham House, told Trend.
"Turkish parliament established a committee that included the ruling and opposition parties to revise the new constitution, but no consensus was reached between the ruling and opposition parties," he said.
The expert said the ruling Justice and Development Party does not have a sufficient majority in the parliament to pass a new constitution subject a referendum.
"They don't have a sufficient number of MPs in the parliament to pass a new constitution," he said.
Hakura said the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hoping that the ruling party will have a sufficient number of MPs after the next general elections scheduled for June 7, 2015 to pass the new constitution, which then he could submit a referendum.
"And if the ruling party does not achieve the required number of MPs, which is a minimum of 60 percent of the parliament, that is 330 MPs minimum, then they will need the support of the opposition party," he added.
Earlier, the Turkish Grand National Assembly's Chairman Cemil Cicek said Turkey needs a new constitution.
He said there are many problems in Turkey associated with the country's constitution.
Cicek also noted that the current constitution doesn't meet modern requirements of Turkey.
Earlier, Turkey's justice minister, Bekir Bozdag said Turkey needs a new constitution. Bozdag said that despite the changes in over 100 paragraphs of Turkey's current constitution, the government was not able to make it more democratic.
It was also reported that following the Turkish presidential election held Aug. 14, the former foreign minister and current prime minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu said a new constitution is needed for Turkey's democratization.
Davutoglu said the new government's aim would be preparing a democratic constitution.
Edited by CN