Turkey to hold elections next June

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that his country plans to hold the parliamentary elections in June 2011, CRI English reports.

Erdogan made the announcement while meeting with executives of media organs at a breakfast at his office in Istanbul.

"We want to move the election one month forward, for the elections to be held before the schools are closed," he said.

This will be Turkey's 17th general election. The election features the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) emboldened by a successful constitutional referendum.

Turkey's 16th general election was held on July 22, 2007, and resulted in a resounding victory for the AKP. The election was fought mostly on Turkey's debate over secularism and the controversial presidential election held earlier in 2007.

Following the Turkish constitutional referendum, which the ruling party won, to create reforms as necessitated for Turkey's accession to the EU, AKP party leaders said they would create a new constitution after the 2011 elections, which were seen as having emboldened the AKP.

Erdogan said that Turkey made a significant progress in its democratization process, adding: "the constitutional amendment package which came into power after the referendum on September 12 marks the beginning of a new era in Turkey. The package consisting of 26 articles does not fully remove the shadows on the Constitution of 1982, but it includes very important amendments such as a change in the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors."

Erdogan also called on all political parties, academicians, media members and non-governmental organizations to help them in efforts to prepare a new constitution.