Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Sept 20 2009
DSP leader supports democratization, asks president to step in
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in
Turkey feels uneasiness in stepping up efforts at democratization to
solve long-standing issues, including the Kurdish one, simply because
it does not have full confidence in the state system or what is called
the establishment — the power brokers within the state apparatus
ranging from military to judiciary — a leading leftist politician has
said.
In an exclusive interview with Sunday’s Zaman, Masum Türker,
the head of the center-left Democratic Left Party (DSP), said the
government has misgivings about the continuation of the state’s
endorsement of the process, putting further delays on the solution.
Underlining that the Turkish Republic definitely needs a full
democratization package, Türker said, `Unfortunately the
government can’t make known its own views out in the open because of
this concern, and we need to find a solution that will make the
government’s job easier to handle.’
In a sharp contrast with main opposition leftist party, the Republican
People’s Party (CHP), which has been very much opposed to the
democratization package from the start and even refused to meet with
the government minister tasked with drafting the package, the DSP has
lent its support to the government’s initiative and party Chairman
Türker accepted the invitation extended by Interior Minister
BeÅ?ir Atalay to discuss the initiative despite some resistance
from within party ranks.
He stresses that the name of the initiative should be carefully
selected because of the sensitivity regarding the issue among the
public. `If you dub this the Kurdish opening or initiative, the
process would be off to the wrong start,’ he said, adding that the
government changed the name of the initiative after he conveyed this
concern to Atalay during a meeting held at DSP headquarters. The DSP
sees the problem as a democratization issue for Turkey and argues that
all impediments in the collective usage of basic rights and freedoms
should be eliminated. `Every region in the country has problems of its
own, just like the Southeast, where citizens of predominantly Kurdish
descent live; they have a lot of problems in exercising their
fundamental rights and freedoms. Therefore, to define it as only a
Kurdish problem would make it difficult to achieve progress on the
democracy front,’ he added.
The DSP entered Parliament following the 2007 national elections after
working in coalition with the CHP, running on the same platforms and
using the same campaign. The party later distanced itself from the CHP
and formed its own separate parliamentary group. Asked why the DSP
took a different stance to the CHP on the new initiative,
Türker said he and his party leadership believe the country has
a real problem in living up to full-fledged democratic standards. `The
people demand that the government solve the problem, complete the
democratization process and end the terror,’ he said. `What we did in
contrast to the CHP and the Nationalist Movement Party [MHP], which
leads the charge in opposition to the initiative, is to tell the
government that the approach chosen initially was wrong. We
contributed to the process positively as we hold the view that
everybody should be part of the solution,’ he added.
In fact, the government has listened to the DSP and changed the name
to the `democratization process’ to further broaden the base of
support for what it is trying to accomplish. Türker is also
critical of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an’s handling of
the process. `It was wrong for ErdoÄ?an to send his interior
minister to discuss the process with other party leaders while he met
with the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party [DTP]
personally,’ he argued. Describing this as a major tactical mistake on
the part of the government, Türker said: `In hindsight, we can
say that the process would not have been stuck had the prime minister
personally requested meetings with all party leaders. Then the
interior minister could have worked on fleshing out the process,’ he
added.
Military is on board
The DSP leader further argues that citing terrorism as the reason for
this initiative was wrong as well. `Terror is terror and should be
treated separately,’ he said, emphasizing the point that there is no
need to find a reason when contemplating new regulations that will
boost fundamental rights and freedoms.
>From the vantage point of the powerful Turkish military,
Türker does not see much difference between the government’s
approach and the military’s one. The red lines mapping out the
democratization process in Atalay’s public remarks are very similar to
the lines the military drew: These are the maintenance of the unitary
structure of the state and the retention of Turkish as the official
language. `We think the government and the military is in sync with
regards to the process, and they seemed to be sincere in solving the
country’s problems,’ Türker believes.
In decoding the government’s thinking from the meeting he had with the
interior minister, Türker has come to the conclusion that
government is not willing to stake the AK Party’s future on the
process by going `solo.’ `They insist the process should be seen as
state policy rather than the government’s project and would very much
like to see Parliament involved in the solution. I think pointing to
Parliament as the arena for the solution is an important and required
step for us,’ Türker noted. He anticipates that the government
will not try to achieve major constitutional change in this process
but rather will introduce changes in regulations and laws to ease the
rigidity of the Constitution in some matters. `The important thing is
that the AK Party does not want to take these steps alone,’ he said.
As for the explanation of the government not wanting to go it alone,
Türker says the price tag for the AK Party would be huge if the
process fails and the issue is a tense, highly sensitive one which
could be easily be manipulated by rivals and could potentially inflame
public furor against the government. `The prime motivation is that the
government does not have full confidence in the system. They are
concerned that the AK Party would be left out in the open in the
middle of the process,’ Türker explains.
The government has so far shied away from disclosing the details of
the democratization plan, saying they are still consulting with other
parties and civic organizations. The prime minister has said on the
record, however, that Turkey would see some results before year’s
end. As a matter of fact, the AK Party does not have much time left to
find solution to the problem as the general elections will be held in
2011 and next year will be a campaign year for the government and the
opposition parties as well.
DSP put forward own proposals
Türker said the DSP has submitted a list of proposals to the
government with a hope that it will contribute positively to the
solution. He thinks the process is now deadlocked and that the
government needs to do something to dislodge the process from its
current stalemate. `What we need to do is to create conditions so that
government can act freely and comfortably in pursuing this process,
and as a party we are taking risks in helping out the government as
well,’ he said.
The leftist party leader also draws attention to the military’s
succinct warning about the latest announcement regarding the
process. `Though the military Chief of General Staff
[Gen. Ä°lker BaÅ?buÄ?] basically repeated what he
has been saying in the past in parallel with the government position,
he also made clear that tactics and methods employed in the process
would determine its fundamentals,’ Türker said, signaling that
the military wants the process to become a compromise solution with
all parties involved. `They basically said to the government, `Go back
and change your tactics and methods’,’ he noted.
Commenting on the link between the DTP and the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as terrorist organization,
Türker said the former benefits from violence and terror. He
proposes raising the 10 percent threshold in national elections to
enter the Parliament in a bid to prevent terror from determining the
outcome of elections in the region. The DSP also suggests major land
reform in the poverty-stricken region and asks the government to
distribute lands belonging to the Treasury to farmers and villagers in
the Southeast. `Even the fertile lands along Syrian border with Turkey
can be given to the villagers there after the land mines are cleared
out,’ he hinted.
Türker says he understands the feelings of families who have
lost their loved ones during the 30-year campaign against terrorism
and their reaction to the new initiative. He notes, however, that
millions of families are concerned as well when they send their sons
to fulfill their compulsory military service. `The democratization
package ought to be shaped in Parliament with the utmost consideration
paid to all these sensitivities,’ he said.
Round table proposal
The DSP leader suggests that a round table discussion with the
presence of all party leaders chaired by President Abdullah Gül
be held in a bid to get the democratization process moving again. He
thinks this is the only viable option at this stage as both the CHP
and the MHP have politicized the issues, creating polarization in the
society. The DTP is seen as a front for the PKK by many Turkish
citizens as well, creating a major obstacle for its hopes to be
perceived as an honest broker in the process.
Asked why a `round table’ meeting chaired by the president is needed,
Türker said he believes the prime minister has already spent
his political capital and has created barriers by increasing tensions
with other party leaders. He also argues that in a round table
meeting, every leader has a chance to speak and listen to the others
in a face-to-face discussion. `We would be able to see whether the
government can talk with others using the same tone as it did in the
bilateral meetings. People talk in a respectful and reserved manner
when they address each other during round table meetings where all the
relevant parties are present,’ he said.
Türker is strongly opposed to a closed session in Parliament to
debate the democratization process. He thinks a closed session will
further increase tension in the country and argues for more
transparency in governance. Türker also lambastes the DTP for
proposing Kurdish as a language of instruction in schools. `Kurdish
could be an elective course, but the official language of instruction
should be Turkish,’ he noted. `In the early stages, dwelling on
details makes it difficult for the solution to be found.’ he added.
Pressure on Armenia
`In principle, Turkey should have friendly relations with all its
neighbors,’ the DSP leader says. He adds, however, that Turkey’s
neighbors should remove any references that might be found in official
documents, their constitutions or other legal documents which infringe
on the unitary structure of the Turkish state and its territorial
integrity, just as Turkey respects the territorial integrity and
unitary structure of its neighbors. He stresses that Armenia should
openly reject any claims on lands in Turkey.
Türker conditionally supports Armenian rapprochement, saying
that Ankara should pay attention to Azeri concerns before deciding on
normalization of relations with Yerevan. Recalling that the initial
talks have been Swiss-mediated, Türker said this was a mistake
as well. He said the Swiss Federal Parliament has recognized the 1915
incidents as genocide. `Switzerland has chosen a side on this
issue. The talks being held under the mediation of a country that has
already chosen its side has weakened its position here. It would have
been much better if these talks had taken place under the mediation of
a neutral country,’ he underlined.
As for its position on Turkey’s bid to join the European Union,
Türker says the DSP supports the EU membership process. He
criticizes, however, the double standards the EU has applied on Turkey
with respect to the Cyprus issue. `We should not open our ports to
Greek Cypriot ships before we become a full member of the bloc,’ he
said, noting that signing the customs union agreement with the EU
before getting full membership was a mistake. He stressed that opening
up Turkish ports should be conditional upon full membership.
Türker says the DSP is in favor of the overhaul in the
judiciary, especially in the formation and operation of Supreme Board
of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which came under close public
scrutiny recently with a failed attempt to change judges hearing
ongoing trials in the country. He supports the increase in the number
of members in the HSYK from seven to 21 and endorses the idea that
decisions made by the HSYK should be open to review by introducing an
appeals process in the newly constructed bicameral system.
The DSP leader is opposed to the idea, however, that Parliament should
select members of the HSYK, saying there is no full democracy within
the parties right now. `Whatever the party leaders decide, the members
have to follow the suit because in the next election they are afraid
they will not be nominated by the leaders,’ he said. Türker
said the Political Parties Law should be amended and party membership
protected under the Constitution, allowing delegates to choose party
nominees rather than party leaders. `If we could do that, then we can
allow Parliament to choose members of the HSYK or the Constitutional
Court,’ he stressed.
20 September 2009, Sunday
ABDULLAH BOZKURT / ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA