Cicek says political parties to decide on approval of 48 articles

Addressing the reporters at a year-end review press conference yesterday, Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek said the political parties in Parliament will decide whether to approve 48 articles on which a parliamentary commission is working to draft a new constitution. Commenting on a recent proposal by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who called on the political parties in Parliament to work together to ensure the approval of the 48 articles by Parliament, Cicek said, "How our political parties will do this, how they will take action, whether they will approve of this part by part or wait for the whole text is something only they know. We are trying to come up with a product," adding that the new constitution is a promise made to the nation and Parliament will shoulder the responsibility of fulfilling this promise. Cicek added that all the efforts made until today aimed at drafting a new charter should not be wasted.