POLITICAL PARTIES LASH OUT AT GENERAL AMNESTY PROPOSAL

Hurriyet
March 9 2010
Turkey

Both the ruling and opposition parties have criticized a main
opposition party deputy’s proposal that the government consider
a general amnesty for those who stand accused of terror-related
offenses. The main opposition leader Deniz Baykal was among those
criticizing his deputy’s suggestion

CHP leader Deniz Baykal

A main opposition party deputy’s proposal for a general amnesty to
end the long-standing terror problem in the country has been roundly
criticized by a number of parties – including his own.

Both the ruling and opposition parties, including the main opposition
leader, have criticized the proposal, displaying cross-partisan
consensus on the matter during their parliamentary group meetings
Tuesday.

Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, parliamentary group deputy leader for the
Republican People’s Party, or CHP, recently said his party would lend
its support to a possible general amnesty for those who stand accused
of terror-related offenses to end the terror problem associated with
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Asked for comments on his deputy’s remarks on the matter, CHP leader
Deniz Baykal said Kılıcdaroglu’s statements were wrong. "He should
not have brought such an issue to the agenda," Baykal told reporters,
speaking after his party’s parliamentary group meeting. Baykal,
on the other hand, did not mention the issue during his address to
lawmakers in Parliament.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday it was impossible to
understand the CHP’s suggestion. His deputy, Bulent Arınc, meanwhile,
claimed the main opposition party’s suggestion implied a kind of
demand for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of
the PKK. Arınc also said the government could not approach such a
proposal positively.

Baykal criticizes government’s reform package

In his address, Baykal also criticized the ruling Justice and
Development Party, or AKP’s, attempts to push for Constitutional
amendments involving a judiciary reform package.

Baykal said such comprehensive and significant amendments should be
carried out through the broader consensus and participation of society,
adding that Constitutional Court President HaÅ~_im Kılıc’s recent
remarks urging the government to seek a broader consensus should be
taken seriously.

"The constitutional changes are not a matter solely confined to a
single political party. They concern all of Turkey. This project will
be the Constitution of 70 million people living in this country,"
Baykal said. "Turkey’s political parties, professional organizations,
judicial institutions, non-governmental organizations, universities
and unions should all contribute to the initiative."

Baykal said his party would not let the Supreme Board of Prosecutors
and Judges, or HSYK, be restructured like Turkey’s Radio and Television
Supreme Council, or RTUK, which has been highly criticized due to
the perception that it is politically influenced.

Touching on the recent resolution of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee labeling the Ottoman-era massacre of Armenians as "genocide,"
Baykal also criticized the protocols to normalize relations between
Armenia and Turkey.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP,
also criticized CHP deputy Kılıcdaroglu’s proposal.

"This is the demand of the PKK and the European Union. The CHP should
clarify its stance with regard to the issue," Bahceli said, speaking
to media after his parliamentary group meeting Tuesday.

Bahceli also criticized the U.S. House’s resolution on the Armenian
issue, saying, "It is not the business and right of New York, Texas
and Washington to judge about an issue which concern’s Turkey’s Edirne,
Van, Trabzon, Bitlis, Sivas, Antalya, Hatay, Igdır and Mugla."

Bahceli also called on the government to freeze relations with Armenia,
withdraw protocols from Parliament, close the Ä°ncirlik base and
cancel Erdogan’s visit to the United States.