AKP

Turkey's AKP on July 1 submitted a long-awaited bill on animal rights to the Parliament's Speaker Office.

Under the bill, "animals will no longer be seen as products, but as life," Mahir Ünal, the party's deputy parliamentary group chair, told reporters in parliament.

Also under the bill, the sale of cats and dogs by pet shops will be banned, he said.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have begun preparations for snap elections, jailed HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has claimed. 

The parliamentary meeting convened to discuss the harmonization of a parliamentary bylaw dispersed without any conclusion amid criticism from the opposition parties, which decided to propose their own draft plans separately.

During the recent tense referendum campaign process, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited a "no" tent in Istanbul and had a brief conversation with the naysayer activists. When he asked a female campaigner why they were against the constitutional changes, she told Erdoğan: "We say 'no' because we want you to be our president as well."

The tight win in the April 16 constitutional amendment referendum will leave the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with much to ponder. The party lost its dominance in Turkey's largest cities Istanbul and Ankara, falling far behind the sum total of 60.4 percent that it and its referendum ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) achieved in the most recent general election on Nov.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli has said his party has completed its study of a constitutional change draft submitted by the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) and found it "generally reasonable." 

The government's constitutional amendment proposal will lead to a federal system and the division of Turkey, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Haluk Koç has said, adding that the draft foresees "a one-man regime" controlling the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

A parliamentary panel has approved an amendment to strip MPs of their immunity from prosecution with the support of three parties against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) after a brawl broke out between its deputies and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in a heated May 2 session. 

The leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has given a blank check to the government on terrorism, announcing that it will readily do its part in parliament if the ruling party continues behaving in line with "national sensitivities" against terrorism. "I note with determination and an open heart that the Turkish people will not be defeated and handed over to terror.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) wants to see a solid proposal for a new constitution from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) before deciding on whether to support the ruling party in its efforts.