President Erdoğan receives Kurtulmuş: A critical meeting

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş.

The meeting at the Presidential Complex was held behind closed doors.

Erdoğan's reception came after Kurtulmuş's controversial remarks regarding the constitution.

WHAT DID KURTULMUŞ SAY?

Kurtulmuş had stated that the phrase "the indivisible integrity of the state with its territory and nation" should be changed, saying, "The state does not have a territory. The state does not have a nation. This text should be expressed as 'the indivisible integrity of the nation with its state and territory'."

Later, he argued that his statements were distorted and made the following summary statement:

"Attempting to create a false perception as if an issue regarding Article 3 was being brought to the agenda in my speech at Gazi University is, to put it mildly, a matter of perception, a management of perception, and it is impossible for me to accept it. Nowhere in my speech did anything called 'Article 3' pass.

I am saying this: procedure precedes substance. Rather than which articles you will write in the constitution, I have spoken so far about how the constitution will be made, through which methods the processes will be managed in a democratic and transparent manner, and issues regarding the spirit, construction, and language of the constitution during this process. Showing it as if there is a debate regarding Article 3 is, to put it mildly, an injustice, a mistake, and a perception operation."