A government committee in charge of legal, political, foreign, and defense matters recently met to discuss three important draft laws. The first, an urgent update to rules about work permits for foreigners, was quickly approved and sent for final voting. The other two proposals—changes to election/referendum laws and a plan to make it easier to erase certain criminal records—were debated but will need more discussion at a later meeting.

The meeting was led by Yasemi Öztürk, a deputy from the UBP party. Officials from the Prime Minister’s office, labor ministry, and labor department attended, along with representatives from the Nationalist Democracy Party. Politicians from multiple parties, including CTP and UBP members, joined the session. Erhan Arıklı, a YDP lawmaker who proposed the election reform bill, was also present as the Minister of Public Works.

While the foreign work permit changes moved forward, the committee agreed to revisit the election and criminal record proposals in their next meeting. This shows the government is prioritizing urgent updates to foreign labor rules while carefully reviewing other reforms.