Though we were pleased with the election of Antalya deputy Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as the head of PACE, his new position required him to be neutral, and understandably he even delegated the opportunity to chair the session during which a report on minorities in Turkey was discussed to his deputy. At least we had a full entourage of Turkish deputies there representing Turkish interests.In the spring session of PACE held last week, however, we only had one deputy in Strasbourg because of unexpected developments in Turkey involving constitutional changes. The government fought bitterly with the staunch opposition to pass each amendment from the general floor with a critical number of above 330. As such, both ruling and opposition party leaders instructed their deputies to sit tight in the Turkish capital and asked them to cancel other engagements, including travel abroad to attend meetings.
Even Çavuşoğlu could have possibly fallen victim to the critical vote tally that on one occasion remained only one vote above the required number. Yet he reluctantly got permission from the Turkish prime minister to chair PACE proceedings for the second time. “I wish I could be in Turkey voting for these important changes,” he stated on Monday morning during a press briefing, signaling that his heart and mind are still back in Ankara.
His aides even worked out a contingency plan that might have shuttled him hastily back to Turkey to cast a tie-breaking vote should push come to shove. Though the scenario was complex, it was not needed, and he remained engaged with the proceedings until the last day of the session. He received many leading international personalities, including the newly elected Ukrainian president and the Russian foreign minister.
The only deputy who made it to the PACE session from the Turkish delegation was Haluk Koç from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which boycotted the voting in the Turkish Parliament. He arrived in Strasbourg two days late against the specific orders of his leader, Deniz Baykal, to stay put. As he challenged Baykal for leadership in the last party congress, he has nothing to lose as many expect Baykal will vote him out from the roster of nominees in the next election.
It seemed there had been a general understanding on the part of the colleagues of Turkish deputies in PACE as they realized that the emergency situation which developed unexpectedly required Turkish deputies to stay in Ankara. They all submitted excuses for their absence to the PACE presidency.
In contrast, however, the absence of the Slovak delegation drew criticism from PACE members. Only one member from Slovakia was present during the session, while all others had to attend a parliamentary session in Bratislava that coincided with the PACE session. Jean-Claude Mignon, head of the French delegation to PACE, said PACE schedules are known months in advance and that the speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Pavol Paška, could have arranged the Slovak legislative session on a different date. He said he would ask Çavuşoğlu to call on Slovak members to explain the reason for the no-show.
The sad part for Turkey, however, was that three reports discussed in the spring session were authored by Turkish deputies and that they missed the opportunity to present them in the assembly. Turkish rapporteurs at PACE had to delegate the job to deputies from other countries. For example, Nursuna Memecan from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was the rapporteur for the draft focusing on women and the financial crisis during the Tuesday afternoon session. She did not make it.
Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) also missed the opportunity to present the draft report on “Euro-Mediterranean Region: Call for a Council of Europe Strategy.” The debate was scheduled for Friday morning. Similarly Birgen Keleş from the CHP had to pass on presenting a report titled “Piracy -- a Crime and a Challenge for Democracies” as a rapporteur on Friday.
Yet there were no major concerns for Turkey during a five-day marathon session at PACE. Thanks to Azeri deputies, Armenians were unsuccessful in inserting references calling the 1915 events genocide into a report about great Holodomor -- the cruel policies pursued by the Stalinist regime which triggered the Great Famine in 1929 in the grain-growing areas of the former Soviet Union, culminating in 1932-33. The PACE resolution recognized Holodomor as a “crime against humanity.”
Still one cannot help but think that it would have been much better if they were able to attend the PACE session. I guess the blame mostly goes to the opposition in Turkey, which was adamant to stop the reforms in the first place, which would bring Turkey more in line with European values such as the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, all values the Council of Europe espouses.
