Turkish parliament speaker Koksal Toptan told Hurriyet daily he stepped in to reduce the recent high tension in the country after the Constitutional Court overstepped its jurisdiction in handing down a ruling to annul the bill lifting the headscarf ban.
Koksal Toptan also said his proposal of a bicameral legislation system was aimed at reducing the tension and reiterated his optimism that the court "could find a third way," Hurriyet daily reported Monday.
Toptan had met Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on the eve of the AKP's high-decision body meeting, and told Erdogan, "Tension is high in the country, and its our duty to ease this. You should make the biggest contribution," the report said.
He had proposed on Saturday to open a debate over forming a bicameral structure along with a new constitution in the legislation as the AKP is reported to be in preparations of an extended constitutional amendments package to curtail the powers of the Constitutional Court.
He also said the court judges "are not boxers in the ring," in an attempt to protect top judges who are under fire from AKP officials, and added the ruling should not be continually debated.
"Lack of confidence between institutions," "not speaking" and "suspicions" are the three main reasons for the tension, he told Hurriyet, adding the only way to dissolve these sources of tension is to bring the leaders together for face to face talks.
"In my opinion, senates can be filters on the way to constitutional courts. They can contribute to lawmaking and also prevent too much paperwork or problems of the constitutional courts," Toptan told reporters in Athens where he attended the meeting of the parliament speakers of Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
"But I did not mean that the constitutional court's powers should be curtailed and granted to senates," he was quoted by the Anatolian Agency as saying.
Toptan added the criticism on his proposal was not logical and has no basis.
The Constitutional Court's decision to annul the bill lifting the headscarf ban in universities, sparked a fierce debate as some experts and the AKP government suggested the court cannot examine constitutional amendments on their essence, while others say it has right to do so if they believed nonamendable articles of the Turkish Constitution are under threat.
The AKP is likely to seek compromise with the other parties in parliament as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is expected to call the other parties to come together to defend the power of parliament at Tuesday's parliamentary group meeting, Milliyet daily reported on Sunday.