With the election of Abdullah Gül as the 11th president of the Turkish republic, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has found an opportunity to compensate for the damage done by the incompatibility of the government with former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The AK Party will now face no obstacles in passing the bills which previously vetoed by Sezer in the 22nd legislative term of Parliament. Among these vetoed bills is the constitutional amendment known as 2B, which would allow the sale of former forest land that the ruling AK Party sees as a source as much as $25 billion income. The government argued that the passage of this bill would make the Turkish economy more resistant to external shocks.
The bill on foundations, which allows for the returning of previously confiscated property of minority foundations; the ombudsman bill; the public administration bill; the oil bill; the bill on the Higher Education Board (YÖK); and the bill on local administration are also among those the AK Party is expecting to pass in the new president's term.
The AK Party's parliamentary group decided to rush these bills to the agenda of Parliament immediately after Gül's election as President. The AK Party plans to keep Parliament open until Oct. 1 after the government is established. The official opening of Parliament was originally scheduled for Oct. 1, but the AK Party will use this extra time for the passage of the previously vetoed bills, particularly those on the Court of Accounts, on foundations and on the ombudsman, taking into consideration the EU Progress Report to be published on Oct. 21.