Call for a new constitution from Vice President Yılmaz

Yılmaz said, "If youtruly want to improvethis system, if you want to develop it, come let us work on a newconstitution. Come, let us all together for the future ofthis country" let us create a much stronger framework.As the AK Party, we are working on these issues.The NationalistMovement Party has already prepared its new draft.To improve and develop this system,parties and groupsshould come together and, with common sense,not with such prejudicesand not with clenched fists from the start, but with anopen-minded approach, we must discuss by presenting alternatives and analyzing the pros and cons of each," he said.

Speaking at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), Yılmazpointed to the importance of the budget, stating, "Through budgets, the mainpurpose iswithin a all policies of the countryare being discussed, theworld is beingevaluated, and Turkey isalso beingevaluated.

Therefore, thisI would like to express once again that we find thesedeliberations veryvaluable and that we, as the executive branch, willcertainly strive to benefit from them.However, I would also like to underline this: Budgets, of course, are ultimately thebudgetary right of our Parliament. Indeed, our Parliament will ultimately accept, reject, or amend them here, but bWe must also recognize that budgets have a special status. Budgets are, at the same time, the primary tool for the executive to carry out actions on matters promised to the public.is of sucha nature," he stated.

Yılmazcontinued as follows:

"The Presidential Government System is, for Turkey, especially during the period we aregoing thperiod is extremelyvaluable. Of course, this does notmean that the Presidential GovernmentSystem cannot be improved or developed. Like every system, the Presidential GovernmentSystem is alsoopen to improvement anddevelopment.It is inherent in its structure and nature. Because it grants the right to regulate many matters even without a law.Why did the Constitutiongrant such a right?So that the administration can act more quickly and adapt itself to new conditions. Therefore, in the coming period, thePresidential Government System'sexperiencedrealitiesbranches in light of, it is always possible to develop and improve it in light of accumulated experience.At this point, if you will allow me, I would like to offer a criticism

of the opposition.On one hand, you are also demanding that this system be improved. But on the other hand, you say that you will not participate in the constitutional effortsthat would improve this system. I see this as an inconsistency.IIf youtruly want to improvethis system, if you want to develop it, come let us work on anew constitution. Come, let us all together for the future of thiscountry create a much stronger frameworklet us create. As the AK Party, we are working on these issues. The NationalistMovement Party has already prepared a new draft.To improve and develop this system,parties and groupsshould come together and, with common sense,without prejudicenot with clenched fists from the start, but withanopen-minded approach, by presenting alternatives and analyzing the pros and cons of each. This is what we call democracy. We cannot find the truth without debate. We cannot find the truth without talking. Therefore, I want to emphasize that exclusionary approaches have in noway brought any benefit to our country.This system is the right system and is open toimprovement.a modern system."

Yılmaz, regarding the Presidency budget, provided information, stating, "Nearly half of the Presidency budget isallocated to the support we send to our soldiers abroad in the service of peace,which wedispatch." from the appropriations toother institutions that we transferred consists of appropriations.On one hand, theworld'sthird largest library, our Nation's Library, which we madeexpenditures for, are in this bincluded in the budget. Therefore, a very costlysystem has emerged. The Presidential system consumes much more money, an approach that is not accurate and not confirmed by the figures. Regarding the discretionary fund, someideas were put forward. There, too, dear friends, the limits are set by lawsit has been determined. I remember it as one in a thousand. I might be mistaken. That limit is far, far below a rate at which the discretionary fund is spent. There is noIn no way are those limits exceeded. Turkey is, as Isaid, a state of law, a state where rules exist, and within these rules wecarry out ourexpenditures,hestated.

Regarding taxes, Yılmaz stated, "The area where we are actually behind is direct taxes; in direct taxes, we are at amuch lower rate comparedtoEuropean Union and OECD averages in terms of tax collection. It is our policy to change this, and we have already included this in the Medium-Term Program. We want to increase the share of direct taxes; in this sense,we have taken many steps, we increased the corporate tax rate by 5 points, and for build-operate-transfer and public- privatepartnership projects,we havefor cooperation projects by 10 percentwe increased corporate tax, financial activity expenses of banks and other financial institutionsby 50 percent, we said the minimum corporate tax for multinationalcompanies will be 15 percent, domesticwe increased the financial activity expenses of banks and other financial institutions by 50 percent,we said the minimum corporate tax for multinational companies will be 15 percent, we said the minimum corporate tax for multinational companies will be 15 percent,we said the minimum corporate tax for multinational companies will be 15 percent, domestic we said it would be 10 percent for companies,we abolished the 50 percent earnings exemption applied to the sale of real estate by companies,we increased the income tax withholding ondividend payments to 15 percent, and many moreexamples could be cited.We have taken these steps to ensuretax justice and to strengthen the economy.there is action and with all of this, in the year 2024we aim toreduce the share of indirect taxes, which was 65.8 percentin 2024, to 61.8 percent in 2026; let uscertainly bring it down evenfurther, but we must I would also like to underline this: We are alsoobserving social justice in our indirecttaxes, and low-incomegroupsconsume moreofwe keep VAT and SCT on productslowor do not collect them at all,whilecollecting more SCT and VAT from the consumptionofhigh-income groups.we are establishing a structure thatalso observessocial justice in our indirect taxes. Turkey'stotal tax burden, meaning indirecttaxes and direct premiums, is23.5 percent of the national income. This rate is 33.9 percent in the OECD and 39.9 percent in EU countries. You say, "You are collecting taxes from everyone,you are collecting too much tax."you are saying," there is such a claim, but these figures do not support it. Our total taxes collectedas a ratio to national income—includingall taxes—direct,indirect, social securitypremiums, including all of them—is 23.5 percent relative to national income; in the OECD, this rate is 33.9 percent; in the European Unionit is39.9 percent. These rateswe must alsoseethat," he stated.

News Source: 12punto