Disappointment with Parliament

The talks on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s constitutional reform package in Parliament are going on in a very tense environment as the deputies of the opposition and ruling parties exchange harsh words over the package’s articles. The government stands alone, as the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) do not back the package.

While the CHP opposes the package because it thinks the government is aiming to take control of the judiciary, the BDP explains its opposition as due to the government’s failure to take its requests into consideration. The MHP opposes the package because it wants the next Parliament, to be formed after the general elections of 2011, to work on amending the Constitution. In such a polarized environment, the fights and quarrels in Parliament disappoint many, although everyone agrees that making amendments to the Constitution will never be a smooth process, free of any wrangling in Parliament.

Yeni ?afak’s Fehmi Koru admits that it is normal for the opposition parties to try to block the passage of articles of the reform package; however, Koru says it is wrong for them to turn the issue into a life-or-death struggle. He warns that if the deputies fail to keep the debates in acceptable lines, they may find themselves facing the passage of the very changes they oppose. “Let the talks on the constitutional reform package be held calmly, and let the package be approved without getting wrapped up in the provocations on the side,” says Koru.

In his view, those who do not like the amendments in the package still have the chance to explain their positions to the public during the referendum process, as it is seems likely that the package will be submitted to a referendum. “Every development where the public is active leads to democratic results,” says Koru.

“Parliamentary sessions where deputies talk about death and war and fight each other do not befit the dignity of Parliament,” he adds.

Vatan’s Okay Gönensin, who is very disturbed by the fights in Parliament, asks: “What do those in Parliament discuss? It is very difficult to answer this question because what we hear and see is only fights, swearing and insults as well as deputies shouting at each other in anger.” In consideration of this, he thinks the current political structure in Turkey is the main obstacle to Turkey’s “modern democratic” path because the deputies take the constitutional problem not as a problem of democracy or citizens’ rights but approach it in line with their interests in Ankara.

Another Yeni ?afak columnist, Ali Bayramo?lu, discusses the attitudes of the AK Party and the BDP during the talks on the package in Parliament, which he thinks will lead to more tension. In his view, if the AK Party had taken the demands of the BDP into consideration and deviated from its unyielding stance, that would have resulted in a more positive environment in Parliament.

As for the BDP, he says the party focuses on what is absent in the package instead of appreciating what it has, and hence sides with the CHP and falls into a situation defending the Sept. 12 Constitution. “This is a pitiful situation both for Kurds and Turkey. I hope this attitude of the BDP only spurs the AK Party to bargain,” he says.

F Disli Zibak reported for Todays Zaman