Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer reaches the six-year mark of his presidency on 15 May 2006. A former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Sezer secured 330 parliamentary votes in a third-round ballot on 5 May 2000, becoming Türkiye's 10th head of state. Presidents in Türkiye serve a single seven-year term, leaving Sezer one year remaining in office.
Over the course of his presidency through 11 May 2006, Sezer vetoed 55 of 928 draft laws and rejected 7 of 32 decrees. He returned 11 Council of Ministers decisions while approving 9,485, and confirmed 150 of 171 ministerial appointments. He also approved 4,855 of 5,607 joint appointments, granted pardons to 259 prisoners, and denied clemency to 9 others.
Attention is now turning to the selection of Türkiye's 11th president. The constitutional process begins 30 days before Sezer's term expires, on 15 April 2007. Under Article 102, candidates must be presented to the parliament speaker within the first 10 days, with voting conducted in the remaining 20. A candidate needs a two-thirds majority in early rounds; if no winner emerges after four rounds, new parliamentary elections are called. Article 101 requires nominees to be at least 40 years old and hold a university degree.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.