Problems in Parliament

I have previously discussed the ongoing struggle of Turkey's Kurdish minority for equal cultural and political rights.  The main Kurdish opposition party, the Peace and Democracy party (BDP), has been accused by the current government of having ties to the PKK.  The Peace and Democracy party did not itself put forth candidates in the recent election.  The leadership knew that they could not reach the existing threshold of at 10% of all votes that is required for a party to have the privilege of sending representatives to the parliament.  Instead, it backed a number of independent candidates, which are not bound by the 10% rule.

Five elected members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly who ran as independents are currently in prison on terrorism related charges.  These five were supported by the Peace and Democracy during their campaign, a fact that was probably central in the circumstances leading to their arrest.  Another recently elected Pro-Kurdish parliamentarian, Hatip Dicle, is barred from taking his seat because of a previous conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda.  Three others who were recently elected are also in jail, accused of being part of the coup conspiracy uncovered last year.  Of these alleged conspirators, two are members of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and one the Nationalist Movement Party.

The newly elected members of parliament associated with the Peace and Democracy Party, as well as those belonging to the Republican People's Party, staged a protest during the opening session of the new parliament on June 28.  In solidarity with their banned and jailed colleagues, 169 of the 550 members of the Assembly refused to be sworn in.  However, the standoff is now coming to an end.  The CHP parliamentarians will be sworn in today despite the fact there has been no real change in the status of their jailed colleagues.  The BDP seems to have been left out the the talks that have taken place between the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party and the CHP.  The continued boycott of the 35 members associated with the BDP will be largely worthless without the more numerous CHP to support them.

I am not surprised to hear about the CHP's unceremonious betrayal of their alliance with the BDP.  Founded by Ataturk, the CHP was the first political party in the Republic of Turkey and enjoyed largely unopposed power from 1923 to 1950.  During this period Kurdish rebellions were brutally suppressed and the laws restricting the public expression of Kurdish language and culture were passed.  There is certainly no love lost between the CHP and the Kurds. I have no doubt that the AK party has jailed the above mentioned Kurdish politicians for largely political reasons.  However, the AK party has also been responsible for the slow but steady improvement in the rights and recognition afforded to Kurds in Turkey over the past decade.  My hope is that this incident is an exception in the AK's largely positive record in the Kurdish issue.  Some Turkish commentators are less than optimistic about the future of the Kurds under the AK party and I can understand their concern.  The Kurds have been the Turkish Republic's go-to scape goats for almost a century and it is much easier to continue on such a deeply rutted path than to forge a new road toward true liberalism and democracy.