Turkey's youth and sports minister on Friday spoke out in favor of lowering the eligible age of running for parliament as one plank in a package of constitutional changes set to face a referendum on April 16.

"The candidacy age is set at 18 in 57 countries around the world, why not make it 18 in Turkey? Will we not have trust in our country's youth? We trust our youth in every way," said Akif Çağatay Kılıç, appearing as a special guest at Anadolu Agency's Editors' Desk in Ankara.

Referring to the measure, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said Thursday that Turkey's 18-year-olds should take a role in the country.

Last October, Turkey's parliament adopted the article for lowering the age of candidacy for parliament from 25 to 18 by a vote of 342-137.

On Thursday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said a referendum on the constitutional change package is now expected to be held on April 16.

The reforms would hand wide-ranging executive powers to the president, and the post of prime minister would be abolished. The president would also be allowed to retain ties to a political party.