Turkish parliament speaker convenes meeting to reduce political tensions

13/06/2008

ANKARA, Turkey -- Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan convened a meeting Thursday (June 12th) of deputy chairmen of political parties represented in parliament in a bid to defuse recent tensions. He told the Anatolian Agency, "We negotiated how to make the parliamentary general assembly work more efficiently." Toptan avoided a hot topic, however: a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this week that re-imposed a ban on wearing headscarves in universities. Critics say the court usurped parliament's powers, as lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to lift the ban a few months ago.

In other news Thursday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey and Arab states bear great responsibility for solving problems in the Middle East and the surrounding region. Erdogan was speaking at the opening of the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum in Istanbul. (Hurriyet, Zaman - 13/06/08; Anadolu Agency, Xinhua - 12/06/08)