DTP ruling draws concern both at home and abroad

The Constitutional Court announced on Friday its decision to close the main pro-Kurdish party, suggesting that it had links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States as well as by Turkey.

The verdict, which has plunged the country into political uncertainty and has dealt a fresh blow to Turkey's faltering bid for EU membership, threatens to undermine the drive by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to reconcile the country's Kurds with the state and end decades of conflict between security forces and the PKK.

Within hours of the delivery of the verdict, the EU's Swedish presidency expressed concern over the decision, while noting that it would monitor further developments closely. “While strongly denouncing violence and terrorism, the presidency recalls that the dissolution of political parties is an exceptional measure that should be used with utmost restraint,” the presidency said in written a statement.

“The EU has called on Turkey, as a negotiating country, to make the necessary constitutional amendments to bring its legislation on political parties in line with the recommendations by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and relevant provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights,” the statement highlighted.

Also on Friday, French Green Hélène Flautre, a co-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, called the verdict a “sabotage” of the Turkish government’s recent democratization initiative drive that, among other things, will expand rights for Turkey’s Kurds. The initiative, which has the backing of Western powers such as the EU and the US and Middle Eastern neighbors including Syria and Iraq, has been severely criticized at home by the nationalist opposition, which says it will undermine Turkey’s national unity.

Flautre, meanwhile, urged the government to take swift action on making the necessary amendments to the country’s Political Parties Law as well as on carrying out constitutional reform.

Expressing her “deep sadness,” over the verdict, Dutch Christian Democrat Ria Oomen-Ruijten on Saturday joined Flautre in encouraging the government to make the related legal amendments.

“I consider this verdict an obstacle to Turkey’s democratization, particularly at a time when there is a hope for a permanent resolution to the problems of citizens of Kurdish origin and there is a sincere effort for a public debate on the democratization initiative,” Oomen-Ruijten, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. She also called on all political parties in Turkey, as well as on civil society, to “continue working for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Turkey through acting cautiously.”

In Washington, despite declining to comment on the verdict, which it called “an internal matter,” the US State Department has highlighted the need for “extreme caution” in limiting fundamental freedoms. The State Department’s reaction to the issue came in the form of an answer to a question taken at a daily press briefing on Friday and was released as a written statement by the Office of the Spokesman.

“The ruling of the Constitutional Court is a matter internal to Turkey, and we would not comment on the specifics of the ruling itself. However, we believe that Turkey’s democratic system should continue to advance political freedoms for all its citizens. Measures that limit or restrain these freedoms should be exercised with extreme caution,” the statement said. “We encourage the government of Turkey to continue its efforts to ensure that all Turkish citizens fully exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. We encourage all political actors in Turkey to pursue reconciliation, reflect democratic values, and refrain from the use or encouragement of violence,” it added.

Political parties, civil society groups and intellectuals in Turkey were no less concerned. Felicity Party (SP) Deputy Chairman Şevket Kazan said only the people can shut down political parties, and not courts. Culture Minister Etruğrul Günay said the ruling was not legal, but political. The powerful Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) said no closure would help to alleviate or solve any problems. In a written statement released on the subject, TÜSİAD said: “It should not be ignored that while applying legislation regarding the closure of political parties, the platform for that party’s members, its views and the people it represents is being destroyed.”

“If closing parties ever helped peace and stability, Turkey would have been a rose garden by now,” said the Turkish Entrepreneurs and Business World Confederation (TÜRKONFED) in a statement yesterday. The statement said party closures moved Turkey away from contemporary democratic principles and universal standards, noting that Turkey was choosing to suppress its problems rather than solving them. The statement called for changes to the political parties’ law and the Constitution to avoid closures in the future.

Rights group Özgür-Der in a statement released on Sunday referred to the DTP’s closure as an “announcement of the policy of insisting on a non-settlement” of the Kurdish question. The statement said the “defenders of the status quo” would be trying to glorify the court ruling saying “rule of law,” however, it asserted that in actuality the ruling was a political and ideological one.

Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP) leader Hüseyin Ergün said the DTP’s closure would harm Turkish democracy and the government’s ongoing democratic initiative efforts. He also said that the SHP saw the closure as a purely political ruling. Ergün said the Constitutional Court should not make political decisions, adding that this particular ruling delayed social peace further.

EU negotiator Egemen Bağış also criticized the ruling, saying instead of shutting down parties, courts should hold irresponsible politicians accountable for actions that might go against the law. He also called for changing the legislation to prevent closures in the future.

Various business organizations including the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), the Turkish Young Businessmen’s Confederation (TÜGİK), the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (KOBİDER), many other deputies of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Republican People’s Party (CHP), heads of the Turkey Party (TP) and the Rights and Freedoms Party (HAK PAR) and many civil society organizations including bar associations released messages protesting the court’s ruling.