Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pushed back against suggestions that a newly elected parliament should oversee the upcoming presidential vote, insisting the sitting legislature would carry out that responsibility on schedule.
Erdoğan was responding to reported remarks by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who had indicated that early elections should be held in April and that a new parliament should conduct the presidential election. The prime minister said he would reserve judgment on those comments until he heard them directly from the president.
Pointing to his ruling party's 355 seats in parliament, Erdoğan said the government held sufficient votes to act on any legislative matter if needed, while adding that no steps were being considered that could unsettle financial markets.
He reaffirmed that the presidential election would proceed as planned in May 2007 and that general elections would follow in November 2007, both administered by the current parliament. "The relevant article of the Constitution is clear," he said.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in December 2006, in its own words.