Rift Emerges In AK Party As Parliament Votes Against Trial Of Ex-Ministers

Parliament voted late on Tuesday night against referring four ex-ministers accused of corruption to court, but the vote has revealed a serious rift within the ruling party, as apparently nearly 50 ruling party deputies on average did not toe the party line by not voting against referral amid widespread claims of government pressure on ruling party deputies.
Among the four ex-ministers, Egemen Bağış, former EU affairs minister, got the least support from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputies in the ballot box.
Only 255 deputies, out of a total of 302 ruling party deputies present in Parliament during the voting after midnight, voted against the referral of Bağış to the Constitutional Court (AYM), which is an indication that a significant number of AK Party deputies were not convinced the ex-ministers were not involved in corruption.
A total of 245 deputies voted for referral of Bağış to the AYM, which takes over the role of Supreme State Council when it tries top state officials. In the voting for Bağış, seven of the ballots cast turned out to be abstaining votes, four not valid, while six were blank.
Opposition parties, including independent deputies, have a total of 223 deputies in Parliament, but eight deputies from the ranks of the opposition were missing during Tuesday's session. That meant that at least 61 AK Party deputies needed to vote yes for the referral of the ex-ministers to court, assuming that all opposition deputies voted in favor.
The voting, in which no opposition deputy is believed to have voted against referral, was conducted for each of the ex-ministers separately and in a secret ballot as per the Constitution. An absolute majority, which is at least 276 votes given that Parliament is composed of 550 deputies, was needed for a referral to the top court.
The first vote on Tuesday night was regarding Zafer Çağlayan, former minister of economy. A total of 264 deputies voted against sending the former economy minister to the top court, while 242 deputies voted in favor of a trial. That meant 38 AK Party deputies did not vote against referral. Seven deputies abstained, while one ballot was blank and three were counted as invalid.
In the case of Muammer Güler, former minister of interior, 258 deputies voted against referral, while 241 voted for trial. Six deputies abstained, while four ballots were blank and four not valid.
Erdoğan Bayraktar, former minister of environment and urban planning, got the strongest support from the ruling party deputies in the voting. Out of a total of 515 deputies present, 288 deputies voted against his trial, while 219 deputies voted in favor of a trial. Three deputies abstained, while three ballots were blanks and two were invalid.
The four former ministers -- Çağlayan, Güler, Bağış and Bayraktar -- left their posts under claims of corruption a week after a sweeping graft probe went public on Dec. 17, 2013.

Davutoğlu: Non-referral confirms graft probes were coup attempt

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who is on a visit to the United Kingdom, admitted on Wednesday that the presence of ruling party deputies who did not vote against referral was a reflection of the different views held by AK Party deputies.
According to Davutoğlu, who dismissed claims about ruling party deputies being under government pressure to vote against the referral of ex-ministers to the top court, this is an indication of the respect the ruling party showed for the legal process in the corruption investigation.
“None of our deputies was subject to [any] suggestions or pressure [from the government]. That's the way it should be,” he told reporters early on Wednesday, as he called on everyone to respect the decision of Parliament.
He also claimed that the vote against trial for ex-ministers showed that graft probes that went public in 2013 were a coup attempt.
Following two major graft probes that went public on Dec. 17 and 25 of 2013, the government has claimed that the probes were part of an attempt to oust the government.
He also said his absence in Parliament during a critical vote should not be misinterpreted noting that another ruling party deputy voted in his name.
In contrast to Davutoğlu, some ruling party deputies harshly criticized those who did not toe the party line in the vote regarding claims of corruption against the ex-ministers.

AK Party deputies call those stepping out of line ‘traitors'

During a television program late on Tuesday night, AK Party deputy Şamil Tayyar described the ruling party deputies who voted in favor of sending the ex-ministers to court as traitors.
Following the voting on former economy minister Çağlayan, Tayyar admitted that his party had not expected that the number of ruling party deputies who would not vote against referral would be as high as 38.
He said: “If the number was merely three or five, it would be OK, but this number cannot be accepted. These [the deputies] are traitors among us. It is not casuistry, but a political operation conducted against [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan. A network of treachery within us has conducted the operation against Erdoğan. They could not achieve their goals, but they attempted an operation.”
Tayyar also claimed that the deputies who voted in favor of referring the former ministers to the Supreme State Council will be identified within two days, saying, “It is time for cleansing within the party.”
Another AK Party deputy, Mehmet Metiner, also harshly criticized the deputies who voted yes, saying: “The number of traitors among us was not low. The name of this act is simply treachery.”
Maintaining that those who did not vote the same as the majority of the ruling party deputies on the corruption issue should leave the party, Metiner said, “We know who they may be, more or less.”

He added: “If they do not come forward, they will be revealed sooner or later and they will not be forgiven.”
Cemil Barlas, the son of the pro-government Sabah daily columnist Mehmet Barlas, described the high number of deputies voting against the four ex-ministers as the first political failure of PM Davutoğlu, criticizing him for having an unclear stance about allegations of corruption towards the ex-ministers.
Barlas accused the ruling party deputies who did not vote against trial “hypocritical,” adding: “Let's see what Davutoğlu will say about this ‘trash' [referring to the deputies]. Will he say, ‘These friends voted in accordance with their conscience,' or will he say, ‘These people unfortunately did not understand the cause'?”

The voting was held amid claims of pressure over ruling party deputies by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who apparently fears that he may also face charges of corruption should Parliament had delivered a yes vote.
With the rejection by Parliament of the referral of ex-ministers to the top court for trial, the legal process in the graft probe has been finalized, as prosecutors had also previously dropped charges against suspects in both the graft probes.
But the emergence of new evidence of corruption against the suspects in the future would pave the way for the legal process to be relaunched.
None of the four former ministers took the floor to address the parliamentary session ahead of the vote.
Early in the month, a parliamentary commission established to look into claims of corruption regarding the ex-ministers voted against their referral to the AYM in a voting based on an absolute majority.
Amid allegations of the government placing heavy pressure on ruling party members of the commission for non-referral, all the nine ruling party members of the commission, which comprises 14 members, voted against referral.
Ahead of the voting in Parliament, President Erdoğan hosted at a dinner last week members of the managing board of the ruling AK Party as well as the parliamentary group deputy chairmen of the party. It is claimed that Erdoğan instructed the party's parliamentary group deputy chairmen that no AK Party deputy vote for referral.
It is also claimed that each of the deputy chairmen has been made responsible, in relation to the voting, for a group of 50 to 60 AK Party deputies.
According to documents sent to Parliament by the İstanbul Prosecutor's Office, which conducted the probe, Çağlayan, Güler and Bağış are accused of receiving bribes from Reza Zarrab, an Iranian businessman of Azeri origin based in Turkey.
Former minister Bayraktar, for his part, was accused of paving the way for building contractors to obtain illegal profits by changing the status of protected areas, in order to begin construction on sites funded by pro-government businesspeople.
Bayraktar publicly said, after announcing his resignation on Dec. 25, that then-Prime Minister Erdoğan should also quit, as most of the amendments to construction plans in environmentally protected zones mentioned in the corruption investigation were made on Erdoğan's instructions. (Cihan/ Today’s Zaman)