ANKARA: Turkey’s opposition demanded yesterday a recall of parliament to hear corruption allegations against four former ministers in a move which could spell further trouble for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of local elections on March 30. Police documents on the four ex-ministers were sent to parliament in late February and a summary would usually be read out on the floor. However, the assembly went into recess for the election campaign period shortly afterwards and the files have been kept under lock and key ever since.
Mehmet Akif Hamzacebi, a senior deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told a news conference his party had filed a parliamentary petition with 132 signatures for the assembly’s recall.
Under parliamentary rules, speaker Cemil Cicek, who is a member of Erdogan’s centre-right AK Party, has a week to summon the assembly for an extraordinary session.
A recalled session requires the attendance of at least 184 deputies in the 550-member assembly, which the CHP could achieve with the support of the nationalist MHP and pro-Kurdish BDP parties. Both have said they would back the move.
REUTERS
