The key to ending this deadlock is the elections. The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has taken the necessary steps and has applied to the Turkish Parliament Speaker’s Office to hold general elections on June 24. The Constitutional Court has never suffered such a major blow before. The public trust in the judicial system has not been so threatened since the Yassı Ada trials that sentenced Adnan Menderes to death. What’s worse is that it seems that the judicial system has placed an embargo upon the Parliament’s decisions and will. This process can be called “a judicial coup in line with the General Staff’s e-memorandum.”
We saw how the April 27 declaration from the General Staff disturbed the economic balances the next morning. This process not only placed the democratic system under threat, but the economic stability, development and prosperity in the country as well. At this point there is no need to debate who is guilty or innocent and why. But there are a few points we must clarify…
Similar to the anti-democratic Feb. 28 process, once again we are facing a societal re-engineering project. The first step in this project was taken by Sabih Kanadoğlu, the former chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals. Four months ago, Kanadoğlu said: “The AK Party government can not elect the president by itself. A quorum of 367 parliamentarians is required for the elections process to begin.” Despite the objection of sincere legal defenders, the issue came to the agenda owing to strong ideological and political pressure.
The next step was taken by the CHP. Leader Deniz Baykal said they would apply to the Constitutional Court to invalidate an election to be held with less than 367 parliamentarians. The third step included the protest rallies in Ankara and İstanbul. They gathered a certain group of people by targeting their concerns. But we witnessed an obvious difference in values between those that participated and those that spoke during the rally. In fact the demonstrators in İstanbul’s Çağlayan square began by protesting a military intervention.
This was followed by the CHP’s threat to the Constitutional Court. The CHP warned that civil conflict would break out if the court made a bad decision. The fifth item was the court’s approval of the CHP’s claim.
Please remember, there are more steps to be taken…
Looking at today’s events, we see general elections coming up in two months.
The AK Party must have an effective policy in the coming period. The enemies of the nation want to divide the people into AK Party supporters and AK Party opponents by using religious issues. The Maraş and Sivas events created a Sunni-Alevi tension, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist attacks have created a clash between Turks and Kurds, and now they are trying to corrupt our social and communal bonds to create tension in our politics. While the AK Party must take precautionary measures against increasing tensions, it has a golden ticket to becoming the strongest center party. The AK Party’s welcoming, tolerant and moderate stance can destroy potential traps and games. Besides the military and judiciary are at a disadvantage right now, because they’ve displayed a stance that is not in line with the public. All the AK party really has to say is, “the people will decide.”
