ANKARA - Parliament defied President Ahmet Necdet Sezer Thursday by overriding his veto on a tax administration law sought by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a pre-condition for the approval of a loan of 10 billion dollars (7.7 billion euros).
The MPs adopted the bill without any change after Sezer sent it back last week. Lacking the power to impose a second veto, his only option was to ask the constitutional court to throw out the law.
Sezer said that an article on procedures regulating the appointment of senior tax administration officials was legally flawed.
The law was one of several changes demanded by the IMF before it gave the go-ahead for a fresh three-year stand-by program for Ankara.
The IMF executive board was expected to convene later this month to consider the deal to replace a stand-by program totaling 16 billion dollars (12.3 billion euros) that expired in February.
The new deal aimed at consolidating the measures that helped the Turkish economy emerge from two severe crises in 1999 and 2001.