Parliament continues to vote on amendment package

Talks on the package started on Monday. The first two articles were passed with the support of two opposition deputies. The Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) are boycotting the voting. The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is attending but voting against the articles. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has 336 seats, but deputy Mehmet Ali Şahin cannot vote as he is the parliament speaker. The CHP has 97 seats, the MHP 69 and the BDP 20. There are 12 independent deputies in Parliament, while the Democratic Left Party (DSP) has six deputies.

The Democrat Party (DP) and the Turkey Party (TP) have one deputy each. A total of 330 votes are needed for an article to pass in Parliament. In his party’s parliamentary group meeting yesterday, CHP leader Deniz Baykal criticized the government, saying Turkey had more pressing economic concerns, particularly in agriculture. “We are discussing the Constitution in such a country,” he said, after stating that the purchasing power of workers was continuously falling. BDP co-Chairwoman Gülten Kışanak also made a statement regarding her party’s stance against the package yesterday, saying during the BDP’s parliamentary group meeting that some stories in the press claiming that BDP voters overwhelmingly supported the amendment package were untrue. “The BDP will not be a partisan of anybody else,” she said.

Talks on the package started on Monday, but the voting started after midnight due to attempts to stall the process by the CHP. Opposition deputies submitted various amendment proposals to the articles being discussed. The CHP also called for a roll call each time one of their proposals was voted on. AK Party deputies sarcastically applauded the CHP’s roll call demands in protest. Parliament closed at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, resuming at 3 p.m. the same day.

On a vote on whether to start the voting rounds, 333 deputies voted for while 73 voted against. The first article included in the amendment package was passed with 336 votes against 70. This amendment changes the 10th Article of the Constitution, on gender equality. The change allows affirmative action for women as well as the elderly and the disabled and ends the legal possibility of affirmative action being interpreted as a violation of gender equality. CHP, BDP and DSP deputies did not participate in the voting, while MHP deputies voted against it.

The second article, which changes Article 20 of the Constitution, on the confidentiality of one’s personal life, was passed with 337 votes for and 68 votes against. The second article received a surprise “for” vote from the opposition. The change adds the following clause to Article 20 of the Constitution: “Everyone has the right to demand protection of personal information concerning themselves. This right includes information about personal information regarding a person, access to this information, demanding that these are corrected or erased and find out whether such information is being used in accordance with the purpose for which it was collected. Personal information can only be recorded as allowed by law and with the open consent of the individual.”

Yesterday Parliament continued talks on the AK Party government’s constitutional reform package, with deputies from opposition parties trying to delay voting on the remaining articles.

Question on presidential system

Monday’s talks on the constitutional package took interesting directions. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin responded to the opposition’s questions on a change to the second article of the package. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent statement that Turkey could adopt a presidential system was brought up by the opposition. In response to a question on that, Ergin said the prime minister had only shared his views on the presidential system on a news show. “He has shared his belief that the presidential system should be discussed in Turkey. However, we have not started any work regarding that. Of course, this is something to talk about.”

BDP Muş deputy Nuri Yaman also delivered a speech during talks on the second article of the package, saying that a bill on protection of personal information has been sitting in Parliament’s Justice Commission since 2008. He criticized the government for not having passed the necessary change in a timely manner and choosing to integrate it in a constitutional amendment package instead.

AK Party deputy Lokman Ayva, who is visually impaired, also spoke, wearing a carnation on his jacket. He said he was wearing the flower because he was hopeful that the constitutional amendment package, which allows affirmative action for the disabled, would make life much easier for persons with disabilities.