[Hurriyet Daily News] Once adopted, the sweeping constitutional changes now facing parliament will serve to re-energize ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
said on Jan. 14.
"Entry into force of the constitutional changes debated by parliament will have a galvanizing effect on our country," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Istanbul, at the opening of a new building for Borsa Istanbul, the nation's stock exchange.
"No one can stand in front of the new Turkey's rise and building itself up," he added.
Erdogan stressed that the final decision on the proposed changes, including a shift to an executive presidential system, would be made by the Turkish people in a referendum following the required passage by parliament.
"The nation's will is very important for that. Right now there is an understanding [in parliament] which cannot tolerate the national will and also cannot tolerate it [the changes] going to a referendum."
Erdogan also spoke about changes to the way foreigners could gain Turkish citizenship. "People who enter Turkey with $2 million in investment or bring $2 million [to Turkey] can gain Turkish citizenship," he said.
These changes amount to a "new understanding" of "global citizenship," the president suggested.
Turkey Suspends Pro-Kurdish Lawmaker for 'Genocide' Comment
| Any excuse will do when Kurdish Untermenschen are involved. |
Member of parliament for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Garo Paylan said four communities had been lost and "driven from these lands in large massacres (and) genocides," referring to Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and Jews, according to Anadolu Agency.
Videos showed politicians from the pro-government Justice and Development Party (AKP) angrily interrupting Paylan's speech.
He has been banned from attending three sessions in the parliament, which is currently voting on provisions in a controversial bill to change the constitution and increase presidential powers under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
Paylan made the comments during a speech in which he criticised the draft constitution for giving one man extensive executive powers.
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
vehemently denies a genocide against Armenians took place. AKP politician Naci Bostan slammed Paylan's comments as "provocative" and "unfair", Anadolu said.
But Armenians, backed by many historians, a growing number of foreign parliaments and the European parliament, say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically killed in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey admits large-scale massacres took place, but says they were perpetrated in self-defence against what it describes as a Russian-inspired uprising by Armenians. It says 500,000 Armenians died in fighting and of starvation.
Paylan's comments came after a vicious fight broke out in parliament on Thursday as politicians voted on parts of the 18-article constitution bill which -- if passed -- will be put to a referendum at the end of March or early April.