Turkish President vetoes constitutional changes on public elect country's leaderMay 26, 2007 - 15:15 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has vetoed a set of constitutional changes that would have let the public elect the country's head of state. The amendment was prompted after secular opposition lawmakers boycotted a vote to elect the Islamist-rooted ruling party's candidate, Abdullah Gul.Mr Gul, the foreign minister, withdrew his candidacy and the government called early general elections for 22 July. Under the current system, the president is elected by parliament. It was widely expected that Mr Sezer would reject the package of reforms. In a statement, the secularist president said there was "no justifiable and acceptable reason or necessity" for the amendment. He said the changes could threaten Turkey's democratic system as a president elected by popular vote could further challenge parliament, which is also directly elected. "In the parliamentary system, these broad powers envisaged to achieve a balance of power could produce results which are troublesome for the regime ... if the president is chosen by the people," Mr Sezer said. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that his government will try to push the reform through parliament again unchanged. But Mr Sezer cannot veto the same bill twice. He would either have to approve the law or call a referendum. The reforms included a proposal letting the public elect a president for a five-year term that could be renewed once. Currently, parliament elects Turkey's president for one non-renewable seven-year term, BBC reports. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |