President Sezer vetoes 2B Law

Instead of calling for a referendum, President Sezer vetoed the Constitutional amendment paving way to "Sell lands which ceased to be forests."This has been the second veto of the President, of the law, which is dubbed as the 2B Law. The President also vetoed for the second time, the amendment paving way for pulling down the age of eligibility in being elected, from 30 to 25. On the last day which he was  required to make his decision on the amendment, President Sezer vetoed the controversial law prepared by the government to sell forsets.In his move, the President effectively blocked the move of the government to exclude alder trees and grafted chesnut trees from the scope of "Forest trees."     In his justification, President Sezer said that "Fields in the nature of forests were used for long years by the political powers for political purposes.   As a consequence, forests which have to be managed to the public benefit of our country , turned into lands used arbitrarily. The recent (demanded) amendment is an attempt to render constitutional legality to this actual situation, whose intention is to earn money. "The sale of the areas which totally ceased being forests and excluded from the scope of these, is equal to award those responsible of these acts, This move, if implemented, will encourage the total annihilation of forests and cause further forest destruction. "Placing priority to those using the areas excluded from forests, in selling these forests, will trigger the looting of forests and create hopes for those constructing illegal houses, for another amnesty. " The President stressed that "These behaviors are crime according to the Forests Law. It paves way to sell the forests to those who deliberately destroyed them and therefore is against the principles of the state of law. " By vetoing the law twice , in spite of the obstinate and persistent efforts of the government, Sezer has effectively made a last warning to the government. If the Government sends the same law to him for a third time, Sezer will most likely place it into a  referendum this time.   Meanwhile, the AKP government which had earlier announced that it will call Parliament for an extraordinary session to tackle the vetoed law once more,  is expected to do so to re-open Parliament in September. In such a session, the vetoed law and the permit to send troops to Iraq are expected to be handled together. Â