Turkey's parliament passes key articles in bill on new constitution
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hopes the talks on the constitutional reforms that would alter the way Turkey is governed will be completed this week.
The proposed constitutional reforms grant wide-ranging powers to the president with greater parliamentary oversight of the presidency, and scrap the position of prime minister.
Turkey's parliament on Friday adopted the seventh and eight articles of a new constitutional reform package that would move Turkey towards a more presidential form of government.
The adopted articles would allow the president to be a member of a political party and to issue decrees.
Eighteen amendments are proposed to the existing constitution. The changes grant wide-ranging powers to the president, strengthen parliamentary oversight of the presidency, and scrap the position of prime minister.
The governing AK Party, backed by the nationalist MHP, is in favour of the constitutional reform. The main opposition CHP and the pro-Kurdish HDP, the second largest opposition party, are opposed.
The 18-article bill needs the support of at least 330 deputies in the 550-seat assembly to go to a referendum, expected in the spring. The AK Party has 316 deputies eligible to vote and the MHP 39.
All proposed changes, however, will need to pass in two more rounds of voting before the constitutional package as a whole can be put to a referendum.
Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hopes that the reform talks will be completed this week.
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