After the summer break, the parliament opens its new legislative year on Oct. 1 and the General Assembly will convene on Oct. 6 to discuss a nine-article bill on the Turkish Red Crescent.
The bill will give the organization legal authority to work on disease prevention during disasters, emergencies and wartime, CNN Türk reported.
The first major bill before parliament in the new term is expected to be the 13th Judicial Package. This package is best known in public as the legislation that will abolish indefinite alimony.
Under the proposal, alimony payments will last half as long as the period between the wedding and the filing of the divorce case. Courts may grant longer payments to women who are unable to work or are of advanced age.
The package also separates divorce proceedings from related disputes. Courts will first rule on the divorce itself. Alimony, division of property and custody, often the causes of lengthy cases, will be dealt with separately.
TOBACCO RESTRICTIONS
A bill to curb smoking and tobacco use will follow the judicial package. It will ban smoking around schools and hospitals. It will also reduce the visibility of smoking in parks, gardens and playgrounds.
Retailers will have to remove tobacco products from behind checkout counters. Age verification through an electronic system for cigarette sales is also under consideration, according to CNN Türk.
YENİ PARTY SETS ITS OWN PRIORITIES
Yeni Party, which holds 91 seats, will attend the session but skip the evening reception marking the opening. Its lawmakers are not expected to stand when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan enters the chamber to address the session. They will then meet at headquarters on Oct. 1-2 to set their agenda for the new legislative year, with Özgür Özel chairing the sessions.
The Yeni Party, meanwhile, plans a different focus for the new term. Party priorities include a minimum wage increase before December and measures against recent price hikes, Cumhuriyet reported.
The list also includes the stock exchange collapse and fraud investigation, the Mecca Agreement and democratization steps expected under the Kurdish peace process.
Özel also discussed the stock exchange, the party's congress schedule and the new legislative year at a Central Executive Board meeting.
CONGRESS SEASON AT YENİ PARTY
The party is also in the middle of its internal congress process. District chair primaries will take place in 973 districts on Sept. 26-27. Members who joined the party by Aug. 26 are eligible to vote, the first time that members will choose delegates, according to Özel.
He is expected to follow some of the primaries in Izmir, Manisa, Balıkesir and Istanbul. The party will hold its First Ordinary Congress on Nov. 14-15.
