Constitutional amendments will be presented to the public “despite opposition efforts to delay the process,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed in an address to local neighborhood heads at the palace on Thursday.
Erdoğan has lashed out at critics of a government reform bill being debated in parliament, claiming that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) “guards the status quo” by protesting against the draft during parliamentary debates.
On Monday, Turkish lawmakers began discussing a set of constitutional amendments that would transform the country's system of government and boost presidential powers.
"Whatever you do, I believe that these (reforms) will pass through parliament and go before the people," Erdoğan said in remarks apparently directed at the main opposition party which does not back the proposals. "If you have any respect for the people, if you have any respect for the will of the people ... then let these discussions end so that the people can make a decision," Erdoğan added.
He also sought to quell fears at home that secular lifestyles were under threat. "If we have not had any problem with democracy and secularism in the past 14 years, why would we in the future?" he asked.
