New constitution to be best gift to nation on Turkey’s centennial: President

UPDATE WITH MORE REMARKS BY ERDOGAN

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish president on Friday urged all political parties in parliament to share their drafts for a new constitution.

"A new constitution, which will be prepared with the consensus of our assembly, if possible, will be the best gift we can give to our nation in 2023 [on the centennial of the republic]," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening of the new legislative session of the parliament.

Erdogan expressed hope that political parties in the parliament will soon share their drafts.

"We launched the initiative [on a new constitution], we are making our preparations," he said.

The current Turkish Constitution was made after a military coup in 1980, and Erdogan has been pushing for a new constitution to be drafted under civilian rule.

Earlier this year, the Turkish president urged all political parties to be part of the process, a call backed by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of the Justice and Development (AK) Party in the People’s Alliance.

Erdogan recently said the AK Party plans to make public its draft for a new civilian constitution in early 2022.

- Central Bank Reserve

The Turkish president recalled that Turkey ultimately ended its $23.5 billion debt to the IMF in May 2013. "We have closed a period that we do not remember with pleasant memories."

"Our Central Bank reserve, which people always ask where it is, has reached the level of $122 billion," he said.

In August, foreign currency reserves – in convertible foreign currencies – rose to $69.3 billion, a monthly rise of 10.6%, while gold reserves decreased by 2.4% to $40.6 billion.

Short-term predetermined net drains of the central government and the CBRT – foreign currency loans, securities, and FX deposit liabilities – up 14.5% this August from a month earlier, reaching $23.1 billion.

Erdogan noted that the government, in the coming period, would resolutely advance on the companies that "distort competition, abuse their dominant position in the market, and arbitrarily set prices."

"We expect our companies to reduce their dependence on the banking sector and provide long-term financing for their investments with capital market instruments," he added.

- Paris Agreement

Erdogan reiterated that the government submitted the Paris Agreement on climate change to the Turkish parliament.

"Our decision to submit the Paris Climate Agreement to the parliament's discretion is also the first good news of the Green Development Revolution that we have started," Erdogan noted.

He said: "We will establish a comprehensive early warning system against meteorological events that are becoming more and more unstable and harsh."

The parliament will discuss the Paris Agreement on climate change on Wednesday.