No return from democratization

A group of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputies joined the ranks of the pro-status-quo Republican People’s Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) by voting against an article that was crucial for the progress of Turkish democracy.

In the second round of voting on the government’s constitutional reform package, the eighth article, which would have made it more difficult to shut down political parties, was rejected after failing to receive the 330 votes required for inclusion in the package. The article, which would have given Parliament the last say on whether a prosecutor could launch a closure case against a party, received only 327 votes, meaning that at least nine AK Party deputies voted against the package as the party has 336 seats in the Parliament. This attitude has led to various comments, but Turkey is very unlikely to retreat from the efforts at democratization it has launched.

The exclusion of an article from the government’s reform package, even a very critical one, will not change Turkey’s need for democracy and its march toward democratization, says Star’s Mustafa Karaalio?lu, who admits that Turkey’s getting rid of Ergenekon, a shadowy crime network that has alleged links within the state and is suspected of plotting to topple the government, will certainly not be smooth.

“If one article drops or five articles drop from the package, it does not matter, what is left behind is democracy. And those articles are the guarantee of a more free life deserved by the people of this nation. The games in Parliament, the trembling hands of those who are confused, red stamps, white stamps are all small details. A big picture is being shaped,” says Karaalio?lu. With regard to the coalition of the opposition parties as well as some AK Party deputies in voting against the article in question, he says history will note them and that their choices will never be forgotten.

In consideration of the fact that the AK Party itself suffered from a closure case in 2008 that was launched by allegations that the party was a focal point of anti-secular activities, Sabah’s Emre Aköz says he cannot understand how some AK Party deputies would vote against an article that makes party closures more difficult. He only has one explanation, which is the assumption that these AK Party deputies were commissioned by Ergenekon to prevent democratic developments in the country.

Radikal’s Akif Beki dismisses the claim that those AK Party deputies betrayed their party by voting against the eighth article of the package, saying that they voted in line with their independent free will unlike the deputies of the opposition parties, who cannot vote in favor of the package because their party administrations ordered them not to do so. “At the end of the day, the will of Parliament called for the exclusion of this article. We have nothing to do but respect that decision,” says Beki. Source – F Disli Zibak

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