Law Professor Serap Yazıcı, one of the architects drafting a new constitution to replace the military-dictated Constitution of 1982, predicts that the closure of the pro-Kurdish party has inevitably put the government’s Kurdish initiative into a difficult situation and may lead to an early election instead of the scheduled elections in 2011.
As street clashes among those protesting the closure of a Kurdish party and local residents have heightened the danger of civil strife, the Turkish government’s isolation in finding a solution to the decades old Kurdish problem has become more apparent. The two main opposition parties’ increased aggressive stance against the peace progress has, meanwhile, furthered tension.
The Constitutional Court’s decision to ban the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) late last week while banning 37 of its members, including two of its deputies, from politics for five years has not only frustrated Kurds but also paralyzed a possible political solution to the chronic Kurdish problem.
Ahmet Türk, former co-chairman of the now-defunct DTP, who lost his parliamentary seat as a result of the court ban, predicted several months ago that the government might have no choice but to call early elections to renew its mandate following its historic but risky step to start an initiative to end the 25-year-old terror problem and find a political solution to the Kurdish issue.
Now that his party is closed while he and 36 other party members are banned from politics, the possibility of early elections has increased.
However, there are more urgent problems to be tackled, such as ending street clashes and convincing former DTP deputies not to leave Parliament.
A Turkish deputy has been drawing attention to the dangers awaiting Turkey as a result of the party closure. Independent deputy Ufuk Uras said on Dec. 14 that the closure of the DTP has increased the risk of missing out on opportunities to end the country’s 25-year-old bloody conflict. He, together with a group of intellectuals, called on Kurdish deputies to stay in Parliament instead of protesting the sessions. Similarly, Kurdish intellectuals yesterday called on Kurdish deputies not to leave Parliament so that street tensions may be reduced.
The 19 deputies who became independent following the DTP’s closure have already announced their decision to resign from Parliament and have travelled to the Kurdish-dominated southeastern province of Diyarbakır to hold meetings there.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has announced the continuation of the Kurdish initiative despite the current political impasse following the party closure case.
But the current impasse appears to be calling for the ruling AK Party to announce an early election that may help ease the current tension and prevent provocateurs from exploiting the current chaos to take control of the country by forcing political authorities to declare measures such as a state of emergency.
