Azernews.Az

By Nur Banu Aras

Turkish opposition parties have discussed the agenda of returning to the strengthened parliamentary system in the country, Yeni Shafak has reported.

The leaders of the opposition parties - Good Party (IYI Party) Meral Aksener, Felicity Party (Saadet Party) Temel Karamollaoglu, Future Party (Gelecek Party) Ahmet Davutoglu, Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Ali Babacan and Democrat Party Gultekin Uysal met at the Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s invitation to discuss the restoring of the reinforced parliamentary system in Turkey, the report added.

However, it was emphasized that if a transition could not be achieved immediately and a sufficient majority in parliament to change the constitution could not be reached, the presidential government system would be maintained for a time. It was noted that if the president is a member of the opposition, the president has the authority to amend the constitution directly.

Following the 5-hour discussion, the six opposition party leaders announced that a joint statement on the meeting's outcomes will be made public on February 28, 2022.

"We discussed the public presentation of the memorandum of understanding on the new system, and we agreed to share it with our nation on February 28, 2022," the statement said.

The road map agreed upon by the six party chairmen to be announced on February 28 sparked controversy, as the date has long been associated with the military and bureaucracy-led coup against the Erbakan government in 1997.

Kilicdaroglu stated that there is no special meaning in determining the date of the next meeting as February 28.

"Preparations for the next meeting must be made. In that regard, we determined the most appropriate time. We could have left it a week later, at the beginning of March, if we had wanted to. However, because it was anticipated that preparations would be completed by that date, we set it for February 28," he explained.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Group Deputy Chairman Bulent Turan stated that it is normal for opposition parties to meet and discuss issues.

In this case, however, the intention is clear: these parties "wish to return to the old Turkey". Despite their ideological differences, these party leaders are united in their desire to depose Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power, he said.

The six-leader meeting was also criticized on social media, with amusing analogies. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan was photoshopped into the opposition leaders' "family photo".

"Some people questioned why there is no HDP in this group of six. Let it be known that we do not accept those who do not accept us. When the time comes, we know exactly how to ignore those who ignore us," Buldan emphasized this at the party's provincial congress in Izmir.

"With the exception of one of those six political parties, the sum of the votes cast by the others is not even half that of the HDP... We'll continue on our own path. Our way is the third way, and one day everyone will need it, one day everyone will have to, one day everyone will come to see us, they will request an appointment to meet with us, and no one should doubt it. "We're not such a soft target," she added.

The issue of a presidential candidate was one of the main topics discussed at the 6-party opposition summit. It was claimed that Kilicdaroglu's candidacy did not come to light directly, but that all leaders indirectly pointed to it.

Commenting on the subject, Good Party Deputy Chairman Bahadir Erdem stated that the party was not opposed to Kilicdaroglu's presidential candidacy. However, he emphasized that relevant decisions should be made in collaboration with the heads and boards of the Nation Alliance's parties (Millet Ittifaki).

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