23.05.2013 09:09
Reforms intended to settle the Kurdish question and the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) proposal that Turkey switch to a presidential system are the two thorny issues before the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation...
Reforms intended to settle the Kurdish question and the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) proposal that Turkey switch to a presidential system are the two thorny issues before the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission, which set out to draft a new constitution almost two years ago.
Although all the political parties represented in Parliament agree that Turkey needs a new constitution, with the current one having been prepared by a military government following a coup in 1980, the opposition parties are resisting throwing their support behind the new draft unless the AK Party abandons its proposal for a presidential system.
Milliyet's Fikret Bila argues that the ruling party badly wants the new constitution for two reasons: to switch to a presidential system and in order for the settlement process launched with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to succeed. However, both the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) oppose the draft, as they have concerns about the ruling party's proposal for a presidential system and that they are worried the ruling party has made some secret promises to the PKK so that the terrorists would withdraw from the country. Foreseeing that the opposition will block the path to the adoption of the new constitution, the AK Party has thought of Plans B and C for the draft. It will either seek pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) support when drafting the text and taking it to referendum, or it will give up its plan of including the presidential system in the draft so that the opposition will support it.
However, Taha Akyol from Hürriyet wonders whether it will be possible for the AK Party to cooperate with the BDP on the new constitution and the switch to a presidential system. He thinks there is a very small chance. According to a MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center survey, only 28 percent of respondents think positively of AK Party-BDP cooperation.
As for what the ruling party should do according to Akyol, he says the party should give up its plan for a presidential system for the sake of presenting a more democratic constitution to the public and to succeed in the ongoing settlement process. We all know that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to be in power until 2023. Instead of changing the system altogether, despite the opposition of many, he should change the party bylaw prohibiting its members from being elected to Parliament for more than three terms and go on with his political career as prime minister yet again.
MERVE BÜŞRA ÖZTÜRK (Cihan/Today's Zaman)