Charter panel to start work for Turkey's new constitution

A cross-party parliamentary commission will convene Thursday for its first meeting to assume an ambitious and potentially divisive mission to draft a new constitution for Turkey, Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek made the announcement yesterday. Justice and Development Party (Ak Party) deputy chairman Omer Celik said all four parties in Parliament "have reached a full consensus that the conciliation commission should be set up and start working without pre-conditions."The AKP's Celik said the four parties had also agreed that the commission should set up mechanisms that would ensure input not only from legal experts, but also from ordinary citizens. The would-be new charter was also high on the agenda of a delegation from the liberal group in the European Parliament, which met with representatives of the four parties in Parliament yesterday to discuss Turkey's faltering bid to join the European Union. Guy Verhofstadt, head of the delegation, hailed the cross-party consensus to start working on a new constitution, saying that a successful completion of the process would serve as an answer to Turkey's many critics in Europe. "We are aware of our shortcomings. With or without EU membership, Turkey is trying to accomplish the structural and legal arrangements that are required for a high-standard democracy," said Parliament Speaker Cicek, stressing that the current constitution was the source of many outstanding problems.