Will Turkey allow 18-year-old members of parliament?
One of the proposed amendments to Turkey’s constitution is the lowering of the age of candidacy for parliament to 18. What does that mean for Turkey's youth?
Lowering the minimum age of candidacy for parliament to 18 from the current 25 is one of the constitutional changes being debated in addition to the constitutional change that will make Turkey an executive presidential system. Ultimately, there are 7.5 million voters in the 18-25 age range, making their role in the upcoming referendum crucial.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been defending its proposal on the basis of Turkey’s dominant young population that calls for more youth in politics. The AKP had lowered the age of parliament candidacy to 25 from 30 in 2006.
The proponents of the proposal are claiming that this amendment has nothing to do with the executive branch, but that it is supposed to strengthen the legislative organs and broaden fair representation in the parliament. They cite this as an already widespread practice in the world. The Turkish parliament’s Research Commission prepared a report, citing information from 172 countries that said in 51 countries 18 is the lower limit for entering parliament, 21 is the possible age in 62 countries and the limit age is 25 in 59 countries, including Turkey.
Moreover, the argument goes, the new amendment would close the gap between electing — as in voting at the age of 18 — and being elected, for which one has to be 25 years old in the current system. According to the proponents’ argument, as reiterated by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag: If one young person becomes a legal adult at 18, has the right to get married, to have a profession, to be a soldier, to die if necessary, it is a big contradiction not to have permission to run for parliament.
