President 'must be born in Turkey' condition to change

By Coskun Ergul, Sinan Uslu and Mumin Altas

ANKARA

The ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s proposed law that the country’s president does not have to be a citizen "born in Turkey" was accepted by the Parliamentary Constitution Committee on Wednesday.

According to the current Constitution's 8th chapter, the president must be a Turkish citizen and must be born in Turkey.

However, Wednesday's AK Party proposal offered to change the article in the chapter to president must be "among Turkish citizens", lifting the condition of being born in Turkey.

The approval was made during ongoing talks within the committee over proposed changes to the Turkish Constitution.

In addition, the draft constitution decreased the number of articles from 21 to 19 by removing the fifth article about the backup deputyship and postponement of elections; and the 15th article proposing to give all governmental institutions' establishments, assignments, authority and responsibilities to the president.

The resolution also offered to increase the number of Supreme Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK) from 12 to 13 and to also include the justice minister and his undersecretary as members of the body.

Last month, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said a committee within the AK Party had completed its work on a draft constitution that also included items concerning a presidential system.

The bill proposed to change Turkey’s constitution and governing system. The ruling government has long sought to replace the current parliamentary system with a presidential one, saying there are flaws in the setup which hold back Turkey’s development.

The proposed changes would be put to a public referendum even if the government received the necessary votes in parliament, Yildirim had said.

The new constitutional draft needs 330 votes to pave the way for a referendum.

The AK Party, with 316 seats, and the MHP, with 40, both back the bill.

The proposal was first presented at the Turkish Parliament's General Assembly after approval by the Constitutional Committee. The constitutional amendment would then be discussed at two parliamentary sessions of the General Assembly.

During the first session, the four political parties in the assembly and the government discuss the proposal as a whole and the articles separately, as well as any motions for amendment. The second session would be devoted only to the discussion of motions for amendment of articles.

If the draft constitution gets more than 367 votes, it can pass directly without the need for a referendum. However, the AK Party has said it will hold a referendum, even if none is needed.

If two-thirds of the parliament (367) approve the bill, the president can take it to a referendum; that vote would be held within 60 days.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized that he will push for a referendum even if the draft is approved by a two-thirds majority in parliament.

The change to the constitution requires a 50 percent vote in favor in a referendum.

Constitutional change -- in particular, the call for a presidential system -- has been on the political agenda since Erdogan, the former prime minister and AK Party leader, was elected Turkey's president in August 2014.

That election was the first time a Turkish president was directly chosen by popular vote.

In the current parliamentary model, Turkish people vote for 550 members of parliament. The government is formed by minimum number of 276 lawmakers.

In the proposed presidential system, the electorate would vote for a person to form a government independently of parliament, with no need of a vote of confidence.