The end of the enforced tuxedo era
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Bulent Arinc, speaker of the Turkish Parliament (TBMM), is overseeing the re-drafting of an interesting amendment to the Inner Regulations of the government. The 122nd amendment to the Inner Regulations bill currently states that the "President of the Turkish Republic should be dressed in black during the swearing-in ceremony," and Speaker Arinc has had this amendment removed from the bill.
Until President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, every president of the Turkish Republic has worn a tuxedo during the oaths for presidency, though President Sezer himself, in accordance with the 122nd amendment, wore a black suit.
The fact that President Sezer in fact chose not to wear a tuxedo at the time of his swearing-in was one of the most talked about subjects of the period. Sezer also broke the rule that a senior member of parliament had to stand next to him during his speeches in front of the TBMM.
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Is the change being made with Erdogan in mind?
With Arinc noting that the removal of the 122nd amendment from the Inner Regulations was based on the reason that questions of what presidents should wear should be left unwritten on the basis that tradition will usually dictate, there was reaction from some members of parliament. Suleyman Saribas, the leader of the Anavatan Party's TBMM group, said for his part that such aspects of the Inner Regulations, which have been around for years, should not change. Said Saribas, "There are traditions which, even when unwritten, everyone pays attention to. There is no reason to try and alter them....We do not know what affect this will have. The politicians of ours who do not like tuxedos know. For example, when there was a NATO summit in Istanbul, Prime Minister Erdogan did not wear a tuxedo, despite the fact that almost everyone else did. So it can't help coming to mind that this alteration of the Inner Regulations is being done with one particular person in mind."