Erdoğan reacts to CHP's signature claims

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has responded sharply to allegations from the Republican People's Party (CHP) that Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin's signature is among the 110 signatures on a constitutional amendment package sponsored by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Speaking to journalists after an opening ceremony at the Cer Modern Art Center, the prime minister said that Şahin had not signed the package. “Even if his signature was there, the number of signatures we have is enough [to complete the submission of the proposal],” he said.

Hakkı Süha Okay, deputy chairman of the CHP's parliamentary group, claimed on Wednesday that Şahin's signature, as the AK Party's Antalya deputy, appears on the proposal that was submitted to Parliament on Monday. Okay called a press conference to voice his claims.

Parliament Speaker Şahin also denied the CHP's allegations. Speaking to journalists yesterday as he received a delegation of police officers led by National Police Chief Oğuz Kağan Köksal as part of Police Week activities, Şahin said: “My signature is not there.

Nor have I been asked to put my signature on it. Even if I was, I would not sign such a document as parliament speaker. I would like to say that I find the claims laughable.” He said before he was elected parliament speaker, he used to sign lists used in the party’s headquarters or other places to track attendance. “It is possible to find those lists that also have my signature everywhere. I find it extremely insincere to claim that I signed the package basing this accusation on those lists.”

He said under Parliament bylaws, he received about 10 new bills or proposals that he relayed to the Laws and Decisions Directorate of Parliament, where they are examined for compatibility with the bylaws. “The drafts come to me, and then I relay them to the relevant commissions,” he told journalists.

He also said that it was possible to look up the signatures on the amendment package. “What is more, the governing party does not need my signature to make a proposal.”

Okay had also implied that Şahin’s signature, which was initially included along with the signatures of other deputies before its submission to Parliament, had later been removed. Şahin said, “The proposal that came to me was referred to the relevant directorate, which completed its examination and ruled that the draft doesn’t lack anything. I have been informed about the directorate’s affirmative report. It is out of the question that I might have put my signature to such a constitutional amendment package.”

Meanwhile, Constitutional Commission head Burhan Kuzu has announced that he will file a criminal complaint against the CHP.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-206141-103-erdogan-reacts-to-chps-signature-claims.html.