Parliament enters recess: AKP deputies take a commemorative photo

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has completed the third legislative year of its 28th Term. Following the final session held in the General Assembly, Parliament has recessed its activities until October 1.

Presiding over the session, Deputy Speaker of the TBMM Tekin Bingöl noted the total number of sessions held, stating, "With the meeting we held today, this Parliament has completed 113 sessions. I thank everyone who contributed. In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, Parliament is entering recess until October 1. I hope that in the new term, our fellow deputies will carry out intensive and successful work in their electoral districts."

Speaking on behalf of the New Path Party (Yeni Yol Partisi), Group Deputy Chairman Selçuk Özdağ shared data regarding parliamentary activities with the public, criticizing the process by saying, "Here, 24 legislative proposals were discussed within a year. We discussed 45 motions. We submitted dozens of legislative proposals and parliamentary questions, and we endeavored to fulfill our oversight duty. May our direction turn toward the West and may our past textures form in our world of hearts, but let us resemble the parliament in Europe."

Group Deputy Chairman Buğra Kavuncu, making evaluations on behalf of the İYİ Party, expressed his wishes for the new legislative term while also making political references:

"I wish for the new term to be auspicious. There is no effort by anyone to lecture anyone else on nationalism, especially when we have nothing to say to the members of a party chairman who said, 'I have trampled all kinds of nationalism underfoot.'"

Group Deputy Chairman Erkan Akçay, speaking on behalf of the MHP, expressed his views on the nationalism debates with the following statements:

"Everyone says they are nationalist, but if a political party claims to be nationalist, this must be included in its official documents. One of the two political parties that includes nationalism in its official documents is the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and the other is the Republican People's Party (CHP)."

Akçay also underscored the completion of the legislative year, saying, "We have completed our final session; we hope that the work we have done will be beneficial to our nation."

DEM Party Group Deputy Chairwoman Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit argued that the adopted legislative proposals did not meet the needs of society. "This parliament passed many laws, but if one were to ask how many of the laws passed were for society, for the laborers, the elderly, and the low-income earners, we would get the answer of a big zero. Let us state that we hope to transition on October 1 to a legislative term where this parliament will address the deep-rooted problems of this country, starting with our social peace, and make laws for society," she stated.

Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chairman Gökhan Günaydın also emphasized that none of the legislative proposals submitted by the opposition throughout the 28th Term were enacted. “The 28th term has a report card. Since June 12, 2023, the CHP has submitted 774 legislative proposals, the DEM has submitted 331, the İYİ Party has submitted 114, and the New Path Group has submitted 83. How many of these have become law? Zero. This means that participation does not happen just by people sending deputies here. You rejected a large number of motions here simply because they were submitted by opposition parties. This arrogant mindset is poisoning the Parliament. Instead, we should be looking at how we can solve which issue together. Turkey has significant accumulated problems,” he said.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Tekin Bingöl closed the session to reconvene on Wednesday, October 1, at 14:00. After the sessions ended, AKP deputies gathered to take a commemorative photo.

News Source: 12punto