Parliament's busy agenda, prime minister's late-night check

07 February 2011, Monday

Tension is gradually increasing in the Turkish Parliament, which will recess at the end of March due to the upcoming general elections. Party leaders are toughening their tone and making offending remarks that affect deputies as well.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is probing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s perfume expenses and his interest in personal care products. Criticizing Kılıçdaroğlu for being so brazen and unashamed about his mistakes, Erdoğan warned that if Kılıçdaroğlu continues his capricious behavior he will not be taken seriously.

During one period in the past, Erdoğan had decided to ignore CHP leader Deniz Baykal and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and had vowed not to utter their names even in criticism.

The friction between party leaders is making deputies, who are worried about being re-elected to a seat in Parliament, more aggressive. While some deputies, particularly those with a background in academia, have announced that they will not run for Parliament again, deputies who are seeking re-election are making unexpected remarks. Inspired by the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, 10 CHP deputies called on the Turkish public to take to the streets and show resistance to the government. The attempt was seen by many as an effort to win the leader’s approval and become nominated as a candidate for deputy.

But the CHP leader was not very impressed by the move.

There were other upsetting developments for Kılıçdaroğlu as well. An example was the attempt to surround Parliament to protest the sack law that is being discussed in the general assembly.

But the next bill Parliament is set to handle will be even more upsetting for the CHP leader. The bill that foresees increasing the number of chambers and members in the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Council of State is causing unbelievable agony for not just the CHP leader but for all neo-nationalists and even the top administration of the MHP.

While the bill was being discussed in the parliamentary Justice Commission last week, CHP deputies quit their membership in the commission, which was an unprecedented move in Parliament. It was the first time deputies had resigned from a commission just to obstruct the commission’s work. If the attempt to blockade Parliament to protest the sack law had been successful, the opposition would have taken the same steps for the bill regarding the Supreme Court of Appeals. There is speculation that the opposition will try to conduct demonstrations around Parliament again as well as seek other measures.

But the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is determined to enact the bill to relieve the higher judiciary’s heavy workload. According to the timetable that was carefully devised, Parliament was supposed to finish debating the sack law on Wednesday and start debating the bill on the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Council of State the same day. But the timetable was not met. Parliament was supposed to finish handling the seventh part of the nine-part sack law on Friday. But instead it finished the fifth part. Noting that they are going to put Plan B into action, an AK Party executive said: “Fortunately, we have the opportunity to make up for this. By starting the work period a day early, we will be able to close the gap on Monday.” If the delay was any longer, the AK Party might have withdrawn the sack law in order to start talks on the Supreme Court of Appeals-related bill. Prime Minister Erdoğan appears very resolute with regard to the judicial reform that both the CHP and the MHP want to block.

During the part of Tuesday’s group meeting that was closed to the press, Erdoğan asked his deputies to maximize efforts to ensure that Parliament functions effectively for the next two months. Deputies with whom we spoke after the closed meeting said: “We are starting a period in which we are going to work day and night again. The prime minister wants to stand before the public with the bills passed.”

Erdoğan is so steadfast about working hard that he even checked up on deputies in Parliament in the middle of the night upon returning from a trip to Kyrgyzstan.

Misery in the MHP headquarters

Party headquarters are like a pre-election barometer. The excitement in all important opposition parties, including smaller parties with a disposition to grow, becomes clear months before the elections.

But when I visited MHP headquarters with the intent to see the excitement in the party, I did not observe the enthusiasm that an opposition party should have. On the contrary, there was a dull and gloomy atmosphere.

While speaking with MHP deputies, I noted that the lack of enthusiasm in the party headquarters was not a good sign. While some candidly voiced their misery others said: “No, you must be mistaken. We are very excited and very hopeful.”

A friend of mine who is not thinking of running for Parliament again said: “Everyone is bothered by the impression that the party has lost energy and votes while in opposition. I can see this clearly in my polling district.”

Another deputy said he was having trouble convincing his own wife and children to vote for the party.

MHP leader Bahçeli had asked every member of the party to persuade five friends from elementary school, five friends from middle school, five friends from high school, five friends from military service and five friends from his neighborhood to vote for the MHP. But forget having every member bring 25 new voters, the MHP is having trouble keeping its current constituents, and several members are even resigning from the party due to various policies that have been enforced and problems that have occurred within the party. The decisions of the Gaziantep organization, the Beypazarı mayor and Bahçeli’s own adviser to leave the party are some of the resignations that have had a cold-shower effect on the party.

Does the “fatigued” MHP really have a threshold problem?

A MHP deputy who is also a friend of mine answered this question in these words: “Forget the election problem, we cannot even tolerate the loss of a single point. Our biggest setback is the inability to criticize party discipline and the leader’s authority. Facts are not voiced so as not to upset Mr. Bahçeli, but it’s becoming clearer every day what we will experience on June 13.”

The MHP, which will compete against the CHP to become the main opposition party, is unhappy that it faces the risk of becoming a smaller instead of a bigger party.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-234742-parliaments-busy-agenda-prime-ministers-late-night-check.html.