When the top court made its ruling, it said allowing the headscarf violates the principle of secularism. Many accused the court of violating the Constitution, which says the Constitutional Court can overrule a constitutional amendment only on procedural grounds. Toptan, who said the court had grossly exceeded its authority, announced shortly after the decision was issued that he would bring together leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament to find a way out of the tense situation. However, recent developments indicate that Toptan has failed to convince political party leaders to join a meeting and discuss the situation. Deniz Baykal, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the Constitutional Court’s decision was made completely within the boundaries of law and that in no way could it be categorized as surpassing the court’s authority. He announced that he would not be joining any meeting to discuss the decision. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli agreed with Toptan and the government in that the Constitutional Court had overstepped its bounds and entered the territory of legislation. He said he would like to see the government produce some solutions to the looming crisis caused by the decision and also noted that he would join Toptan’s leaders’ summit. However, he also sent a message saying he would not want to join the summit if a joint declaration was to come out of it.
After an official visit to Athens last week, Toptan last Friday met with deputy leaders of the parliamentary groups of political parties represented in Parliament. No mention of the Constitutional Court decision was made during this meeting, but Toptan did request that party administrators do their best to abate political tension in Parliament.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Democratic Society Party (DTP) deputy group leader Emine Ayna said they would attend, but Baykal’s rejection and Bahçeli’s stated reservation have forced Toptan to delay his plans for the summit. Sources close to him say he will engage in further talks with senior CHP and MHP members to make such a meeting possible in the future, but observers say the chances of that happening are slim.
It has become very difficult at this point for Parliament to take a common stance in response to the Constitutional Court’s violation of its legislative powers.
