MR. BAYKAL GOES TO BRUSSELS

Feb 9 2009
Turkey

Deniz Baykal, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s
Party (CHP), which is panic-stricken and does not know what to do as
the municipal elections of March 29 near, is now preparing — after
his chador and Quran course initiatives, which have been viewed with
skepticism by voters as moves to attract votes in the local elections
— for another initiative, i.e., a European Union initiative. If all
goes as planned, Baykal will go to Brussels for talks today.

I must quickly note that Baykal’s visit to Brussels, the center where
EU policies, which serve as an anchor for the improvement of democracy
and fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey, take shape, after an
interval of six years is a great event per se. The fact that this
visit will take place immediately after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s visit is also meaningful. It seems that Baykal is trying
to reach out to Turkish voters as much as he is seeking to reach out
to EU circles via his Brussels visit.

We can say that having ignored EU circles for years and not having
refrained from acting so as to paralyze the EU membership process
and reform activities whenever it found the opportunity, the CHP
has, after some time, rediscovered the EU. As a natural consequence
of this discovery, the CHP has opened a representation office in
Brussels. However, we know well that instead of explaining its
own policies to EU circles, this office has been conducting a crude
propaganda campaign to defame the Turkish government and some civilian
initiatives in Turkey. We are talking about a CHP whose chador and
Quran course initiatives have been received with skepticism because
of the repressive policies it had pursued until recently. So we are
safe to assume that its Brussels initiative will be viewed with the
same level of skepticism.

Perhaps, the biggest benefit of Mr. Baykal’s Brussels visit is that
it will provide an opportunity for the CHP and its supporters, who
have been causing tremors in the country, to see and understand the
correspondence or lack thereof between what they have done for the last
five years and what the EU acquis, democratic principles and universal
human rights and freedoms propose. As a matter of fact, what triggers
justifiable doubts about Mr. Baykal’s sincerity are the serious issues
that we expect will inevitably be discussed during this confrontation.

I am sure that EU circles know well what I am talking about. How
the CHP has been dragged into anti-democratic discourse, adopting
an extremist, neo-nationalist and occasionally fascist language and
stance, is well known by our European friends. However, I would like
to recall some things for those who memories may be failing. I am
sure that Baykal has very reasonable explanations to give about them
to our European friends.

Baykal, who, I expect, will assure Brussels that the CHP is fully
loyal to the EU criteria and will continue to lend support to Turkey’s
membership process, will, no doubt, have a good explanation for
why the CHP objected to the amendment of the infamous, repressive,
pro-censorship Article 301, under which many writers and intellectuals,
including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and assassinated Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, have been tried and sentenced.

Baykal should have a reasonable explanation for the objections he
raised about the minority foundations bill, which aims to improve the
property rights of minorities that have been living in this country
to contemporary standards. I think he will also devise an explanation
for his opposition to Kurdish-language broadcasts by the Turkish Radio
and Television Corporation (TRT), through which our Kurdish citizens
have felt for the first time that they are part of this country. I
am sure Baykal’s ideas about how a Kurdish TV station is an unfair
use of public resources and will lead to inequality will be listened
to with interest by his European addressees.

Availing himself of this opportunity, Mr. Baykal should enlighten
Brussels about his role in the republican rallies, which were
organized in close collaboration with retired commanders, most of
whom are now under arrest as part of the Ergenekon investigation,
as well as civilian Ergenekon members, with the aim of blocking the
democratic election of a president. It is obvious that he has some
good reasons that explain why he tried to unlawfully extend the tenure
of former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. He should devise some pretext
for having heartily defended the e-memorandum posted by the military
on its Web site on April 27, 2007 to prevent Parliament from electing
a president and to lend support to the 367 quorum conspiracy at the
expense of the reputation of the law and the top judicial authority,
the Constitutional Court.

It is our great expectation that he will share his mind-blowing idea
that, in a democratic country, a new constitution can only be made
after a military coup with his European addressees, to whom he should
also explain that he affords full support to the 1982 Constitution,
which was drafted under military guardianship. Indeed, this idea may
be inspiring to our European friends, who have failed to draft the
Constitution of the European Union.

There are many things Baykal will have to confront in Brussels,
but finally, I would expect him to explain the logic of a political
party advocating the interests and wishes of the state instead those
of the nation, and prioritizing the military’s influence on politics
over politics itself. Of course, everyone will expect Mr. Baykal
to list his reasons for acting as an advocate for the Ergenekon
terrorist organization, which has played a role in every murder,
massacre, assassination, legal scandal and attempt to create chaos
in Turkey’s recent past, and to describe how he feels about defending
this shadowy network.

I am sure Mr. Baykal, being a good orator and a master of U-turns,
will have convincing explanations for all these points. But, let
me give him a hint as to what he will see during his visit. As an
influential member of the European Parliament whom I met several weeks
ago said, all of Baykal’s ingenious assertions will be as conclusive as
"selling ice cream at the poles."

Do not be misled by the foregoing into thinking that I am against
Mr. Baykal’s Brussels visit. Rather, I heartily support this visit
as I believe that if he makes more frequent visits to Brussels,
he will more easily take his party out of the anti-democratic mud,
where it has been wallowing for some time.