Turkish government welcomes MHP's suggestions over system change

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has welcomed the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader's suggestion to take the question of a presidential system in Turkey to a referendum amid a vociferous debate on charter amendments that would include such a shift.
 "I thank [MHP leader] Mr. Devlet Bahçeli for taking a position on the side of the nation," Yıldırım said, while addressing his party's local officials in Ankara on Oct. 12. 

His words came amid a report in daily Habertürk, which said main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had ordered his party officials to be ready for a snap poll. 

"This is exemplary behavior," he said after Bahçeli had earlier stated that the presidency was the de facto situation and that parties should legalize the case of affairs with a new constitution. 

"The AK Party should introduce its own constitutional draft to parliament," Bahçeli said on Oct. 12, while addressing his party's deputies. 

"This draft will either be approved if it garners 367 votes or will be taken to a referendum if it gets more than 330 votes [but less than 367]," he said.

A sum of 330 votes paves the way for a referendum on constitutional changes, while 367 is enough to effect the change without any need for resorting to a public vote.

The AKP has 317 seats while the smallest party in the parliament, the MHP, has 40. 

Yıldırım said Bahçeli's remarks "gave hope." 

"As the AK Party, we have always said Turkey has to change the current de facto situation into a legal situation," Yıldırım said, referring to the seat of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

"Mr. Bahçeli's remarks are encouraging. We are ready," he said. 

Yıldırım also said on Oct. 13 that...