ANKARA - Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said on Monday that CHP is against amending Article 109 of the Constitution which necessitates appointment of one deputy as the prime minister.
''Forget Article 109, it is not correct to speak by making Article 109 as a fixed idea,'' CHP leader Baykal told reporters before receiving Ankara Industry Chamber (ASO) Chairman Zafer Caglayan and ASO's executive board members.
Baykal said that the problem regarding AK Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan's becoming the prime minister can be solved, adding that ''if AK Party can accept a constitutional amendment in the form of a package, necessary things can be done. This issue can be sorted out without ruining the Constitution and without turning the issue into a conflict between law and politics.''
Caglayan said in his part that the country has to focus on economy by leaving the political agenda.
Caglayan said that the debate regarding whether or not Erdogan would become the prime minister has to be sorted out as soon as possible, adding that the regulations on this issue has to be made by compromise.
Baykal said that his party would pursue a new opposition policy, adding that economic indicators are promising. Persons should stay away from causing political tension, he noted.
When recalled of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's statement that said, ''any arrangement for a single person should not be made'', Baykal said, ''the President made a correct statement. The principles that the President put forward are the principles that everybody should take into consideration. For a long time, I have drawn attention to drawbacks of fight between laws and politics. Also the President has been stressing this. It is corrected if there is a deficiency in laws. However, politics should not make laws in line with its desires.''
Replying a question about the Constitution's Article 109 which mentions that prime minister should be a parliamentarian, Baykal said, ''forget about Article 109, it is not necessary.''
When recalled of AK Party's decision to put parliamentarians' lodgings up for sale, Baykal said, ''our parliamentarians don't have any relation with those lodgings. It is not a problem for us. AK Party has the majority in the parliament. So the Parliament Speaker should say that parliamentarians would not move to lodgings. We don't and won't have such a demand.''