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DTP receives criticism for constitutional change proposal
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) also reacted harshly to the proposal, claiming that ethnic nationalism was dragging Turkey to an atmosphere of unrest.
“Such a proposal would never be passed in Parliament. Such an attitude will make it even more difficult to change the 1982 Constitution, which is on the political parties' agenda,” Şahin told reporters yesterday.
Şahin was referring to a proposal floated by DTP officials, who held an extraordinary party congress in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on Sunday. In a declaration made at the end of the congress, the DTP recommended that Parliament amend the first three articles of the Constitution, which cover the form, characteristics and integrity of the Turkish Republic as well as its official language, flag, national anthem and capital. The Constitution itself bars any amendment to its first three articles. The DTP seeks to change these articles, claiming that they are focused on Turkishness and ignore the existence of other ethnicities in the country.
DTP probed for protests during congress The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the DTP for its third extraordinary congress held on Sunday, during which masked supporters of the party held up pictures of jailed terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan and chanted slogans in favor of him. Turkish news portals announced on Tuesday that a prosecutor demanded video recordings of the DTP congress for examination. The investigation will be carried out against party officials, on charges of “disseminating the propaganda of a terrorist organization” and “being a member of a terrorist organization.” The DTP held its third extraordinary congress on Sunday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The party called for swift changes to the Constitution and dialogue with Öcalan, the leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who is now imprisoned on an island near İstanbul. The peaceful atmosphere of the congress was disturbed when some DTP supporters, who masked their faces, chanted slogans in favor of Öcalan and the PKK. The pro-Kurdish party has weathered several other investigations in the past and has been accused of acting as the political extension of the terrorist PKK after it failed to denounce the terrorist acts of the separatist group. İstanbul Today's Zaman with wires |
“A political party may share their views on a constitutional remedy with the public. But an amendment to the unchangeable articles of the Constitution should not be submitted to Parliament. Even if it is submitted, such a proposal can under no circumstances be passed in Parliament,” noted Şahin, adding that such moves may place the government's efforts for constitutional reform and a democratization package in jeopardy.
MHP parliamentary group deputy chairman Oktay Vural pointed to a planned democratization package, which the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been working on, as the factor behind the DTP's courage to propose amending the unchangeable articles of the Constitution.
“This is where politics over ethnicities can take a country. The picture we have arrived at is very saddening. This is the place where the AK Party has taken us. But this picture does not reflect the Turkish nation. It will go down in our memories as the shame of the prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,]” noted Vural.
The MHP has remained opposed to the AK Party's plan to settle the decades-old Kurdish issue through a democratization package, claiming that such a plan would deal a blow to the unitary structure of Turkey and lead the country to divide.
“Those who are talking about the unity of the Turkish nation are using diversity as a means to divide Turkey. This means the elimination of unity in the country. I am calling on the prime minister. He held a meeting with the DTP to discuss the initiative. The interior minister was hopeful that the initiative would be met with consensus. Go sign that initiative with the DTP deputies. Let us take the constitutional amendment to a referendum. Let us see what the response of our nation will be,” remarked the MHP official.
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