YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS. The new Parliament of Turkey held its first sitting on Tuesday for the newly-elected law makers to take their oaths before beginning their duties officially. As Armenpress informs, citing “Yenisafak,” the Assembly's 550 MPs were sworn in, which means Tuesday's first sitting took about 10 hours, as oath-taking lasts around one minute for each deputy.
A total of 353 MPs, or around two thirds of the Parliament, will be serving as MPs for the first time in the Parliament's 25th term. Twenty-one female MPs wearing headscarves are among these new deputies. On the other end of the tenure spectrum, Murat Başeskioğlu, an Istanbul deputy from the MHP, will be sworn in for the 8th time. He has been serving as MP from the nationalist party for 28 years and seven terms without any interruption.
Turkey's Supreme Election Board has already stated that the Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, has won 258 seats, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's Republican People Party, or CHP, has secured 132 seats while the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, have ensured 80 seats for each in the general elections on June 7. The outgoing Speaker of Parliament, Cemil Çicek, will hand over the office to Republican People Party's former leader and Antalya law maker Deniz Baykal, 76, as he is the oldest member in the Parliament, according to a procedural move. After assuming the duty, Baykal, who will lead a deputy delegation, will place a wreath at the Ataturk monument in the Parliament at 2 pm.
After taking over as the Speaker, Baykal will chair the first sitting in the Assembly, which will convene at 3 pm. The oldest deputy among the newly-elected MPs traditionally serves as the temporary speaker until the deputies take their oath of office in the new term. Baykal will remain in the office until the new Speaker of the Parliament is officially elected. Baykal will be taking his place at the Parliament Speaker's desk in the official black, tailed frock coat that the Parliament had ordered made. Even after the new Parliament Speaker is chosen, Baykal will be able to keep the frock. After the oath-taking at the Parliament, the political parties will have a maximum of six days to elect the new speaker. Candidates, endorsed by their parties, must apply to the Board of Parliament's Speaker within the next five days after the first sitting.
A candidate must receive the support of 367 deputies, which means two thirds of the majority in the 550-seat Parliament in the first and second rounds of secret voting. If none of them ensures a strong majority in the third round of voting, the new Parliament speaker must secure the support of 276 law makers in this voting. If the third round does not secure a certain vote, the two candidates, who received the most votes in the third round, will run off in the fourth round. Whoever receives the most votes in the fourth round, will become the new parliament speaker.
Baykal currently seems to be the strongest candidate of his party for the post in the new term. Haluk Koç, the Speaker of the secular CHP party, is another candidate, who is believed to be endorsed by the CHP. Political experts suggest that AK Party could announce Education Minister Nabi Avcı or Ayşenur Bahçekapılı, the deputy chair of her party's parliamentary group as the candidate for this crucial post.
Turkey's main Kurdish party HDP has already announced Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat as its candidate for this post. The nationalist MHP is expected to endorse either Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Murat Başekioğlu or Tuğrul Türkeş as its candidate. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will be present at the swearing-in ceremony. He has already declared that he would give the mandate to form a government after the parliament elects its new speaker. 
According to a procedural move, the President gives the task to the leader of the political party, which wins the largest vote in the parliamentary elections. The AK Party will have 45 days to form the new government, which is expected to run the country for the next four years. If no formulation is reached on a government within this period, a minority government will be another choice to be tested, but the President has already gave a clear signal that he would use his power to take the country to an early election if the parties are locked into a political stand-off. Political circles close to the AK Party propose the party is highly likely to declare a coalition government with the Nationalist Movement Party until the first week of July.