AKP, MHP win 1st vote in debate for presidency

Turkey's parliament will formally launch debates on a constitutional amendment package that will usher in a powerful presidential system after lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) passed a motion through parliament.

The initial vote in parliament was to decide whether to proceed with a debate on 18 articles of the constitutional amendment package, which was drafted by the AKP and MHP. After lengthy and tense arguments inside and outside parliament, 338 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion while 134 voted against. Two lawmakers abstained and five cast blank votes in a secret ballot. Some 480 lawmakers in the 550-seat parliament were present for the vote.

During the vote, Health Minister Recep Akdağ voted in the open in violation of parliamentary bylaws. "I'm committing a crime; what's it to you? Am I going to ask you?" he is heard saying on a video taken by an opposition MP. 

During the discussions, PM Binali Yıldırım said the regulations outlined in the offer would solve the problems that Turkey will face in the future.

"The changes will solve the problems that may arise in the future and the conditions in our country and will remove some troubles that we face as an administration," Yıldırım said Jan. 9.

There is no administration without a will, Yıldırım added.

"I am a sailor myself, and two captains sink a ship. The captain must be the only one, the captain must be the only one in action. How? You give authority to the executive, you define the system accordingly, then you ask for an account," he added.

Answering questions and criticisms from lawmakers on the proposal as a whole, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ referred to Mustafa Kemal...