The Turkish prime minister said Tuesday that he wanted the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) to be part of the negotiations for a new constitution that aims to shift Turkey from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.
Speaking during a weekly Justice and Development (AK) Party meeting in the capital Ankara, Binali Yildirim rejected the claims made by CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who said the constitutional change would be a regime change.
"Kilicdaroglu! The regime argument ended in 1923 [when Turkey was declared as a republic]. If the republic was contested, the AK Party would be first to revolt. We’re changing the constitution, not the regime," Yildirim said.
Senior AK Party officials recently announced they would modify the constitution with the opposition Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) support, while the CHP has repeatedly stated its hostility to changing the system.