Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Friday that an early election would be considered if the parliament that is debating on a presidential system proves unable to perform its duty.
"We never consider early election would ever be appropriate," Erdoğan told reporters following Friday prayers in İstanbul. "But if they make the parliament dysfunctional, it wouldn't be something out of the question. It (early elections) could be conceivable. We could think about it," he said.
Turkish lawmakers have approved eight articles out of an 18-article constitutional reform package granting extensive powers to the presidency amid a fierce brawl at parliament, in which several deputies were injured. The fight broke out on Thursday with one deputy suffering a broken nose and another claiming his leg was bitten.
"A very ugly situation like breaking the nose of our deputy friend and biting the leg of another is not suitable for any member of parliament," Erdoğan said in a televised remarks in İstanbul.
However, CHP’s forensic science specialist Canan Kaftancıoğlu said on her Twitter account that the alleged biting wound was an old wound, implying that AKP members were lying.
Erdoğan did not criticise his former official chauffeur, AKP deputiy Ahmet Hamdi Çamlı. Çamlı swore at CHP members calling them “mad dogs” and “bastard traitors”, and compared CHP’s parliamentary group leader Engin Altay to the assassin police officer who had killed Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov.
