Constitution committee adopts 11 articles in last meeting of 2016

As the proposed 21-article constitutional amendment package allowing Turkey to switch to a presidential system was reduced to 19 articles during the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee discussions, a total of 11 articles were adopted late Wednesday. While the committee convened for the last time Thursday ahead of the new year, article 11 mainly defining the duties and authorities of the president has been adopted and article 15 allowing the presidency to determine the duties and responsibilities of public institutions and organizations was removed from the proposed draft bill.

During the long hours of heated discussions at the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee, the condition stating that one needs to "be a Turkish citizen by birth" to be elected president was changed to "being a Turkish citizen."

The number of members on the Turkish Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) was previously proposed as 12 but was changed to 13, while the minister of justice and their undersecretary would become inherent members.

The Parliamentary Constitutional Committee also adopted article 8 in addition to the previously adopted articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7, while Article 5 regarding a regulation on "substitute deputyship" was also removed.

Article 11 adopted by the committee allows the president to have the authority to appoint vice presidents, ministers and high-level public officials following the abolition of the prime ministerial post.

However, the adopted article also noted that if a member of the Turkish Parliament is appointed as a minister, their membership at Parliament immediately drops.

Furthermore, it allows the parliamentary investigative commission to be set up by a simple majority vote and upon receiving two-thirds majority in parliamentary votes, it will be able to implement legal impeachment proceedings to put the vice president and the ministers on trial in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the article 12, which covers the renewal of Presidential and Parliament Speaker elections, was also adopted.