CHP head criticizes law schools for remaining silent

Yalçın Bayer - ISTANBUL

HÜRRİYET photo



“In which law and order country do you have a case where the president appoints some 25 percent of the Council of State members? Political authority cannot overshadow jurisdiction. We need to ask, where are the law faculties [and] academics?” asked Kılıçdaroğlu.



Saying the Justice and Development Party (AKP) did “not care about national will, despite being chosen by the people,” the CHP leader added the ruling party was using the Turkish parliament as a “tool for unlawfulness.”



Also touching upon the American-style presidential system debate that has erupted between him and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Kılıçdaroğlu said his two questions to the prime minister regarding the American presidential system were rejected.



“I asked him [Yıldırım] two questions: ‘There is a federal system in the U.S., will you be able to bring that [in to Turkey] and each state has a right to make laws, will you do this as well?’ Mr. Yıldırım rejected these...” said Kılıçdaroğlu, adding that the ruling party was making politics by creating enemies.



Addressing his party deputies on June 14, Yıldırım had said, “Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu said on a television program that his party could support a presidential system like the one in America. We think this means ‘we are ready.’ So fine; let it be an American-style system. We would prefer a Turkish-style system, but if you insist then we’re in. Let’s see if you will [insist],” he added.



Concerning the “partisan presidential system” suggestion by the AKP for the new constitution, Kılıçdaroğlu expressed his belief that such a law would not pass.



Saying that the people had a major duty in government change, the CHP head added they were faced with the question of why they did not press with the coalition government after the June 7, 2015, election.



“Be sure that we presented every solution. We even suggested premiership [to them]. It did not happen,” said Kılıçdaroğlu.



The chair of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has criticized law faculties for remaining silent in the face of a major shake-up in the country’s laws and judiciary, during an exclusive interview with daily Hürriyet.