The Grand National Assembly of Turkey

Please find below information about the institution selected.

Contact point for EU matters:

Phone: + 90 312 420 85 05 Email Mrs. Demet Ülker

Phone: + 90 312 420 67 63 Email Ms. Deniz Cankuș

Phone: + 90 312 420 67 44 Email Mr. Gökmen Toplu

Parliament websites:
GNAT Web Page in Turkish (EN)
GNAT Web Page in English (EN)
GNAT Web Page in German (DE)
GNAT Web Page in French (FR)
GNAT Web Page in Spanish (ES)
GNAT Web Page in Arabic (EN)
GNAT Web Page in Chinese (EN)
GNAT Web Page in Kazakh (EN)
GNAT Web Page in Russian (EN)

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey AT A GLANCE

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is the supreme legislative body. Legislative power is vested in the Assembly and cannot be delegated to any other organ. It is a forum in which elected deputies represent the views and concerns of the people. Public matters are debated freely and publicly.

The Assembly has four main functions:

• Legislation (making laws): A law can only be made, amended or repealed by the Assembly.

• Representation: Elected deputies represent the nation. The nature of the representation is free representation.

• Scrutiny: The government is held responsible to the Assembly through questions, general debate, inquiry and investigation.

• Formation of the Government: Executive power is vested in the President of the Republic. The President of the Republic is elected directly by the public for five years. A person may be elected as the Prasident of the Republic for two terms at most.

Functions and activities of the Assembly are governed by the Constitution, laws and the Rules of Procedure.

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey shall be composed of six hundred (600) deputies directly elected from 81 provinces and 87 electoral districts in total. Parliamentary elections are held every four years.

Deputies are elected in general, direct, free, equal and secret voting using a system of proportional representation with a national threshold of 10%. Citizens over 18 years old have the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Anyone who wants to stand for parliamentary elections must be at least 18 years old.

HISTORY

The first parliament in the Ottoman history was realized by the 1876 Constitution. The Constitution provided constitutional monarchy in which the political power mainly vested in the Sultan and a bicameral Parliament composed of an elected Chamber of Deputies and an appointed Senate.

Members of the Senate were appointed by the Sultan for life among the prominent people over 40 years of age. The Chamber of Deputies was the first elected chamber in Ottoman history in which the members were elected for four years. Important amendments to the 1876 Constitution had been made in 1909 by which the Parliament’s administrative and legislative capacity had been extended.

While the Independence War was waging, Istanbul was invaded on March 16, 1920. Shortly thereafter, the Sultan dissolved the Parliament on April 2, 1920, after the Parliament had adjourned its proceedings. The dissolution of the Parliament opened the way for a new parliament in Anatolia. After the elections, the new parliament, consisting of members elected from the provinces and a group of members from the Chamber of Deputies, was opened on April 23, 1920 in Ankara.

Parliament, renewed in the middle of 1923, took the decision to make a new constitution at the beginning of 1924. The 1924 Constitution, the longest-living constitution in Turkish history, was implemented for 36 years and, to a large extent, conformed to the constitutional ideas prevalent at the time.

The 1961 Constitution set up a bicameral parliament. The main argument for the bicameral parliament was based on the argument that party politics due to strict party discipline resulted in a rigid and simple politics. Therefore a second chamber, elected by a different electoral system and representing different interests, would balance the negative effects of the party politics and would give a way to the political nuances/differences to be expressed in the Parliament.

A new constitution was drafted and was presented to the referendum on November 7, 1982. The greatest change brought about by the 1982 Constitution was the unicameral parliamentary system. The 1982 Constitution, from the time it was accepted until the present time, has undergone many amendments, especially with respect to the “integration laws,” which have been introduced within the framework of the European Union membership process, and which has led to a fundamental evolution. One of the most comprehensive amendment in the 1982 Constitution was made in 2017. With this amendment, Turkey passed to presidential system of government from parliamentary system of government. With elections held on 24 June 2018, the new system came into force in Turkey.

RELATIONS WITH EUROPEAN UNION

Turkey applied to the European Economic Community (EEC), founded in 1958, for full membership in July 1959. The Ankara Agreement, which would be valid until the full membership conditions were met, was signed on September 12, 1963.

Turkey’s candidacy for full membership was registered at the Helsinki Summit, held on December 10-11, 1999. During the European Union Summit of Heads of States and Governments held in Brussels on December 16-17, 2004, it was agreed that membership negotiations would start on October 3, 2005. After the negotiations had started, the relations with the EU diversified and intensified. Within this mindset, the Assembly has become one of the prominent actors.

According to Article 27 of the Ankara Agreement, based on the decision of the Turkey-EEC Association Council dated July 27, 1965, the Turkey-European Union Joint Parliamentary Committee was established. The committee's duty is to address issues related to Turkey's EU accession process and to strengthen relations between the GNAT and the European Parliament.

The COMMITTEE on European Union Harmonization

The Committee on European Union Harmonization was established on 15 April 2003 in the process of Turkey’s accession to the European Union, in order to harmonize the Turkish legislation with the acquis communautaire. The Committee’s first aim is to assist in preparing Turkey for full membership and to examine the activities of Turkish governments in this matter.

The Committee on European Union Harmonization is one of the specialized committees of the Turkish Parliament. According to the founding act, the Committee has the role of a subsidiary committee in the legislative process. It debates the compliance of the draft bills with the acquis and submits its reports to the main committees with its opinion that pertains only to the question of compliance.

From the date of its foundation in April 2007, the Committee has prepared many reports on government bills and proposals, and submitted them to the main committees. When it was established, the number of the members of the Committee was 18, proportionally distributed among the political parties. Beginning with 23^rd legislative period, continuing in the 24^th legislative period today, the number of the members of the Committee is 26.

The Committee conducts relations with the European Union institutions and other European Union Affairs Committees of member or candidate states. It welcomes the ambassadors, the European Union Affairs Committee members of the other Parliaments and as well as the foreign delegations visiting the Turkish Parliament. The constant relations of the Committee with the foreign delegations contribute to the improvement of the inter-parliamentary relations.

There is an ongoing project titled “Parliamentary Exchange and Dialogue” joint project of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) and the European Union, which is aiming to maximize the role of the GNAT in the process of EU membership negotiations by promoting dialogue among the members of the parliaments in EU Member States and Turkey.