Petitions sent to Parliament leave people speechless: 'Ban spread breakfast', 'on-duty mosque', 'inventor unit...'

To the TBMM Petition Commission, hundreds of interesting applications were made, ranging from enabling women who have completed 25 years of marriage to retire, to keeping one mosque in every neighborhood open as an 'on-duty' mosque, and banning 'spread breakfast' (serpme kahvaltı) on the grounds that it causes food waste.

Nearly 5,000 applications were made to the TBMM Petition Commission, which examines the wishes and complaints submitted by citizens to the parliament, between May 15, 2023, when the 28th Legislative Term began, and November 15, 2023. While the number of petitions received from women was 1,453, men sent 3,501 petitions.

90 percent of the applications made to the commission were carried out via electronic mail, while the rest were submitted in person, by fax, by mail, or through members of parliament.

The Bureau of the Petition Commission decided on a total of 12,386 petitions, including those carried over from the previous term, in 9 meetings it held, and removed 84 petitions from the process because they were not in accordance with the legislation or were duplicates. The examination of other petitions continues.

DEMAND FOR RETIREMENT AFTER 25 YEARS OF MARRIAGE

There were also interesting requests among the petitions sent to the Commission.

A man named M.E. living in Konya applied to the Commission and requested that women who have completed 25 years of marriage be allowed to retire.

In the response given to the petition as a result of the examination by the Bureau of the TBMM Petition Commission, it was stated that changes to the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law or new legal regulations in some areas would be required for the request in question, and the phrase "In accordance with the Law on the Use of the Right to Petition No. 3071 and Article 116 of the TBMM Rules of Procedure, it has been decided by our Commission that no further action can be taken regarding the petition" was used.

Among the applications, there were also many requests regarding stopping Israel's attacks in Gaza.

Citizens applied to the Commission with petitions containing requests such as Turkey issuing a diplomatic note to Israel, starting a voluntary military service application for Palestine, banning all Israeli products, closing the Israeli Embassy, stripping Turkish citizens who hold dual citizenship with Israel of their citizenship, and starting a blood donation campaign for Gaza.

Among the applications, requests such as combating fraud in the cryptocurrency market, banning 'spread breakfast' on the grounds that it causes food waste, keeping one mosque in every neighborhood open as an on-duty mosque so that mosques can be utilized at all hours of the day, demanding additional Motor Vehicle Tax (MTV) from yacht owners, and not holding celebration organizations on the streets drew attention.

While one citizen requested the Latin alphabet translation of some regulations issued by various ministries between 1920 and 1929, a request to establish units to identify inventors living in the country and to ensure that the useful inventions identified are used for the public good was also among the applications.

The subjects of some other petitions sent to the Commission are as follows:

"Making legal regulations to establish a system for auditing the business and operations of site managements in Istanbul, abolishing indefinite alimony, enabling the physical purchase and sale of quarter, half, and republic gold coins at state banks, switching to differentiated working hours to solve the traffic problem in Istanbul, and finding a solution to exorbitant house rents."

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