Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has approved a key IMF-backed social security reform bill, which brings all Turkey's welfare bodies under one roof, his office said on Friday.
The president had vetoed the reform - one of two bills required by the International Monetary Fund - but parliament altered it in line with his objections, approved it on Tuesday, and resubmitted it. A second, more controversial bill has also been vetoed and is still to go through parliament for a second time.
That bill presents more problems as the president's complaints were more fundamental than those regarding the first bill. He objects to cutting pensions he says are already low and raising the retirement age to 65 in a country with life expectancy of 66.
Once that bill goes through parliament a second time, the president - with a track record of using his veto - cannot reject it again, but he can send it to the constitutional court.
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