Gul withdrew as a candidate for the Turkish presidency. He failed to win a second round of parliamentary voting and secular Turks hit the streets again.

In the meantime, the Turkish parties hammered out a compromise bill securing the direct election of presidents:

The bill decreases the parliamentary term from five to four years and the presidency from a single seven year term to a five year one that can be extended by another five.

The proposal also sets a new quorum of deputies for a parliamentary session to go ahead. According to the new rule, the presence of one-third of deputies in the assembly would be enough for a session to go ahead.

According to the current constitution, a president can only serve a single term, while the new proposal allows the president to serve a maximum of two terms.

The support of twenty deputies will be needed for presidential candidates from outside Parliament. Additionally, parties that have received more than ten percent of votes in the national elections will be allowed to name a candidate as well. This last amendment was requested by ANAVATAN.

All in all, not bad.