Turkey's ruling AK Party and the main opposition agreed on Wednesday to revive efforts to forge a new constitution, a move President Tayyip Erdogan hopes will hand him sweeping powers, but deep divisions mean progress is likely to be halting.
The AKP has put a new constitution at the heart of its agenda after winning back a majority in a November parliamentary election. Erdogan wants the change to consolidate power in the hands of the presidency by turning the previously ceremonial office into that of a chief executive.
Western allies, which need Turkey as a stable partner in the fight against Islamic State and in efforts to resolve Europe's migration crisis, support the idea of a constitution that bolsters Turkish rights and democracy but fear an executive presidency could strengthen Erdogan's authoritarian instincts.
Turkish opposition parties agree on the need to replace the current constitution, born of a 1980 coup and still bearing the stamp of its military authors, but do not back the presidential system envisaged by Erdogan for the EU candidate nation.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), agreed after a 2-1/2 hour meeting in Ankara to revive a cross-party commission to work on a new text.
"Turkey must rescue itself from the coup constitution," CHP spokesman Haluk Koc told a news conference, making clear that his party would continue to back changes such as moves toward EU-backed reforms.
"(But) we are standing our ground regarding the presidential system, and they are probably guarding their position as well. There was no detailed discussion on this," he said of Kilicdaroglu's meeting with the prime minister.
Davutoglu is due to meet the leader of the nationalist MHP opposition next week to try to win his backing for a new constitution, but has canceled a planned meeting with the leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) after it joined a call for Kurdish self-rule.
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