18 deputies to make up Bureau of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

Parliament on Wednesday approved the number of members for the Bureau of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, after political parties agreed to form the Bureau with 18 members.

According to the distribution of members, the AK Party will have eight members, the Republican People's Party (CHP) will have four, while the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) will each have three members in the Bureau.

The formation of the Bureau of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is necessary for AK Party chairman Ahmet Davutoğlu to receive authorization to form the government, in line with the Constitution.

The Bureau normally consists of 15 deputies, including the speaker, four vice speakers, seven secretaries and three quaestors.
There was disagreement between the political party members as to the number of people who will be in the Bureau.

The Bureau of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey has significant roles regarding the legislative activities and administrative matters. Vice-Speakers preside over the plenary sittings according to weekly rotation. The Speaker of the Assembly presides over the plenary sittings if he deems it necessary.

Some of the duties of the assembly include permitting the committees to convene during the working hours of the Plenary, examining and deciding on the validity of a deputy's letter of resignation, examining the case of a deputy persisting in holding an office or performing a duty incompatible with the deputy's parliamentary mandate, conducting the necessary investigation upon an application to correct the minutes recorded in the Plenary, deciding on cases requiring one minute's silence, taking decisions on the administrative organization of the Assembly.