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Erdoğan insists on the wrong
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It appears that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remains as obsessed as ever with his conviction that democracy is the rule of an "elected majority."
He must be suffering from an acute amnesia condition and just cannot remember the incredible tension he landed the country in last year because of the constitutional amendment package his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, had legislated through Parliament in collaboration with the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, in hopes of legitimizing Islamist headwear, or headscarves, at universities.
Perhaps because of the same serious condition, he must have forgotten how narrowly his AKP escaped closure by the Constitutional Court, which just because of procedural matters instead condemned the ruling party of being a focus of anti-secular activities with an unprecedented 10-to-1 decision.
On one hand, Erdoğan is saying that immediately after the March 29 local polls his government will sit for talks with the opposition leaders and try to establish a consensus on a comprehensive constitutional amendment package. On the other hand, he is blackmailing the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, that if no consensus emerges from those efforts, his AKP would still go ahead with the amendment drive with the MHP’s support.
The collective parliamentary strength of the AKP and the MHP is high enough to legislate a constitutional amendment package without the need to go to a referendum, unless the president decides so. That was indeed what we lived last year with the headscarf constitutional amendment package. The AKP and MHP legislated it in collaboration, President Abdullah Gül swiftly endorsed it, but upon application of the CHP and Democratic Left Party, or DSP, deputies (at least one-fifth members of Parliament or 110 deputies can file such a demand) the Constitutional Court not only annulled that amendment package, but the prosecutor used that move as a supporting evidence in the closure case against the AKP.
AKP’s aims
It is a fact that this country needs a comprehensive constitutional amendment package to get rid of at least some anti-democratic clauses of the military-influenced Constitution, or better to rewrite a social charter with a democratic mind-set. From introducing clauses regarding the duties and functions of ombudsmen to enhancing minority rights and individual rights, and improving the trade union rights of the civil servants, as well as eradicating anti-democratic clauses on political party activities and elections, the present constitution must be improved. With an amendment, the clauses providing parliamentarians of judicial immunity must be either scrapped altogether or the scope of immunity must be restricted to direct political activities. So far it has become clear from Erdoğan’s statements and from those of senior members of his party that the AKP’s foremost aim in a constitutional amendment is to introduce the so-called Venice criteria and bring an end to the closure of political parties by the Constitutional Court unless they are directly involved in violence. Another important demand of the AKP is to increase the number of members of the Constitutional Court while changing the election procedures for members of the high court in a manner that gives Parliament the power to elect court members.
The AKP has some other interesting demands as well, but these two key priorities of the ruling party are totally unwelcome for the CHP (the MHP has not yet made a comment on these issues, though in 2008 MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli warned that such efforts by the ruling party could land Turkey in a fresh political crisis). If, however, Erdoğan is joking when he said his party could go ahead with the MHP if the CHP refuses to collaborate, and if he is indeed sincere in saying that his party will seek a consensus, will agree to drop AKP demands that are totally unacceptable for the CHP, will agree to include lifting of the immunity in the package and will approach this issue with a comprehensive understanding that would include not only the constitution but also the laws on election and on political parties as well as the revolutionary right to individual application to the high court, then in April we might come to the threshold of a new reform drive. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. Anyhow, I am prepared to accept defeat and apologize to Erdoğan.
Perhaps because of the same serious condition, he must have forgotten how narrowly his AKP escaped closure by the Constitutional Court, which just because of procedural matters instead condemned the ruling party of being a focus of anti-secular activities with an unprecedented 10-to-1 decision.
On one hand, Erdoğan is saying that immediately after the March 29 local polls his government will sit for talks with the opposition leaders and try to establish a consensus on a comprehensive constitutional amendment package. On the other hand, he is blackmailing the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, that if no consensus emerges from those efforts, his AKP would still go ahead with the amendment drive with the MHP’s support.
The collective parliamentary strength of the AKP and the MHP is high enough to legislate a constitutional amendment package without the need to go to a referendum, unless the president decides so. That was indeed what we lived last year with the headscarf constitutional amendment package. The AKP and MHP legislated it in collaboration, President Abdullah Gül swiftly endorsed it, but upon application of the CHP and Democratic Left Party, or DSP, deputies (at least one-fifth members of Parliament or 110 deputies can file such a demand) the Constitutional Court not only annulled that amendment package, but the prosecutor used that move as a supporting evidence in the closure case against the AKP.
AKP’s aims
It is a fact that this country needs a comprehensive constitutional amendment package to get rid of at least some anti-democratic clauses of the military-influenced Constitution, or better to rewrite a social charter with a democratic mind-set. From introducing clauses regarding the duties and functions of ombudsmen to enhancing minority rights and individual rights, and improving the trade union rights of the civil servants, as well as eradicating anti-democratic clauses on political party activities and elections, the present constitution must be improved. With an amendment, the clauses providing parliamentarians of judicial immunity must be either scrapped altogether or the scope of immunity must be restricted to direct political activities. So far it has become clear from Erdoğan’s statements and from those of senior members of his party that the AKP’s foremost aim in a constitutional amendment is to introduce the so-called Venice criteria and bring an end to the closure of political parties by the Constitutional Court unless they are directly involved in violence. Another important demand of the AKP is to increase the number of members of the Constitutional Court while changing the election procedures for members of the high court in a manner that gives Parliament the power to elect court members.
The AKP has some other interesting demands as well, but these two key priorities of the ruling party are totally unwelcome for the CHP (the MHP has not yet made a comment on these issues, though in 2008 MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli warned that such efforts by the ruling party could land Turkey in a fresh political crisis). If, however, Erdoğan is joking when he said his party could go ahead with the MHP if the CHP refuses to collaborate, and if he is indeed sincere in saying that his party will seek a consensus, will agree to drop AKP demands that are totally unacceptable for the CHP, will agree to include lifting of the immunity in the package and will approach this issue with a comprehensive understanding that would include not only the constitution but also the laws on election and on political parties as well as the revolutionary right to individual application to the high court, then in April we might come to the threshold of a new reform drive. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. Anyhow, I am prepared to accept defeat and apologize to Erdoğan.
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