If he was a sultan

The Turkish parliament adopted amendments to the Constitution on the introduction of a presidential form of government in the country, the Anadolu agency reports . For amendments, 339 deputies of 488 participated in the meeting spoke.

The deputies of the ruling party of justice and the development of standing welcomed the decision.

Before the vote, the deputies examined each of the articles separately over the past three amendments. As a result, all of them were also approved. However, the resulting level of support of the bill (from 330 to 366 votes "for") is not enough for the amendments to enter into force, bypassing the procedure of popular voting.

The approved bill should be submitted no later than the beginning of the next week to be approved by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If the head of state ratifies it within the next few days, the referendum can be carried out in early April. “Now the word after the people, the people will make a final decision,” Binali Yyldyrym, Prime Minister Binali Yyldyrym, said as a result of voting.

The amendments abolish the post of head of government and expands the legislative and executive powers of the president. The head of state will receive the opportunity to appoint and remove the ministers from the posts, as well as deprive the posts of members of the Supreme Court. In addition, the requirement is removed about the impossibility of simultaneous stay in the post of president and chairmanship in the political party.

However, the parliament retains the right to initiate litigation against the president. The corresponding request will have to receive support for more than half of the deputies. In addition, it is proposed to increase the composition of parliament from 550 to 600 deputies and reduce the minimum age of candidates to 18 years.

On December 10, the party of justice and development introduced a draft amendments to the current constitution of the country, which will expand the powers of the president. Erdogan announced the need for such a reform two years ago, shortly after his election by the president. Supporters of changes in the constitution say that this will simplify the system of government. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yyldyrym said that amendments to the Constitution would save the country from attempts by a coup.

Erdogan himself announced that if the parliament approves changes to the Constitution, this issue will be submitted to the referendum in 2017.

Opponents of this initiative say that a change in the constitution will lead to the fact that all the reign brothers will be in the hands of one person. They refer to mass arrests that took place after the July Revolution of the July Reverse as an example of the fact that this can mean in practice.

After the suppression of the military coup attempt in July this year, mass repressions began in Turkey. At the end of October, the Minister of Justice of the country Bekir Bozdag stated that about 35 thousand people were arrested on suspicions of relations with the preacher in the United States as a preacher. Erdogan seeks the return of the death penalty in the country for reprisals with the coup participants.