President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will hold a meeting with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel on Thursday, reports said.
The much-anticipated meeting will take place at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) headquarters in the capital Ankara at 4 p.m. local time (1 p.m. GMT).
Özel requested to meet the president, which was welcomed by the AK Party. Pundits argue that it may mark a new era in the relations between the ruling and opposition parties and break the ice in the political atmosphere.
The top issue on the agenda of Özel and Erdoğan is constitutional reform, as Türkiye prepares to liberate its top legal document from military tutelage.
The speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Numan Kurtulmuş, visited Özel as the parliament prepares to hold talks on a new constitution.
Speaking after the meeting with Özel, Kurtulmuş said they discussed the methods, rather than the content of a new constitution, as he called the meeting “rather constructive and productive.”
“We will find a way together and will get the opinions of all political parties with parliamentary groups until the end of May,” Kurtulmuş said, adding that negotiations would start when the parliament resumes next year and the legislature will make the final decision through the votes of lawmakers.
“We will continue to have a constructive dialogue with all political parties in this process,” he said.