Parliament shuffle awaits

Following big city mayors, AK Party reshuffle continues into Turkish Parliament

After last month’s mayoral resignations, Parliament is to be the second target area for the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) ongoing reshuffle, which continues apace as the government bids to overcome mental tiredness in its organizations and municipalities. As their two-year terms of office have expired according to bylaws, elections will be held in November for the parliamentary president, Cabinet president, commission presidencies and group deputy chairmen, all of which will be elected in Parliament. Although it was taken for granted that Ismail Kahraman would keep his position on Oct. 1, when Parliament re-opened after the summer recess, the current rumor is that he could soon be reshuffled. While allegations about Kahraman’s family were reflected in public opinion and influential on the expectation of change, many MPs in the AK Party believe Kahraman should leave his duties because of the news about his health problems and family.

The AK Party is expected to conduct a vote tendency survey in the coming days to test the waters among its MPs about the parliamentary president, commission presidencies and group deputy chairmen. But the final decision will be given by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Meanwhile, if there is to be a change in the parliamentary presidency, names such as Hayati Yazici, Nabi Avci, Ismet Yilmaz and Bekir Bozdag are being spoken of as potential successors to Kahraman. Apart from these names, it is also being suggested that for the first time in this period, a female MP could become the parliamentary president. While at least two of the AK Party group vice presidents are set to change, the committee presidencies are also expected to change hands. Applications for the parliamentary presidency will be open from Nov. 12-16, with the election expected to be completed on Nov. 17, while the election for the group deputy chairmen is planned for Nov. 21.

AK Party sets economy-based agenda for Parl ament

The AK Party has determined that economic legislation will dominate the parliamentary agenda during November and December. The 2018 budget talks started last week at the parliamentary budget commission and will continue until Nov. 23. After completion of the commissioning phase of the budget, it will pass through parliamentary meetings from Dec. 11.

The other important agenda item in Parliament will be the bag law, which involves a series of measures and arrangements to boost income and expenditure to TRY 28 billion, with legislation relating to wider segments to be formed by the end of November.

Corporation tax will be increased by 2% to 22% from 2018-2020 within the bag law. This increase is expected to raise TRY 6.4 billion in 2018. While motor vehicle tax is also on the increase, the special communication tax, which used to be at different levels for each communication services, such as telephone, internet and broadcasting, has been determined as 7.5% for all of them. The AK Party alerted MPs to continue to drive through the economy-driven legislation without interruption. During last week’s closed group meeting, Finance Minister Naci Agbal gave a comprehensive presentation to AK Party deputies on the 127-item bag law and answered questions and criticisms.