Parliament already lost its authorities in de facto way: Main opposition leader

ANKARA

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The Turkish parliament’s authorities have already been taken out of its hand in a “de facto way” as the state of emergency decree laws are being used for random cases, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said, signaling that proposed amendments to be voted in an April referendum would pave the way for the intensification of this trend. 

In a meeting with former CHP lawmakers, party assembly members and provincial chairmen in Ankara, Kılıçdaroğlu criticized the frequency of the decree laws implemented arbitrarily on a wide range of issues. 

“What does the winter tire have to do with the state of emergency? That is being regulated by decree laws. What is the closure and opening of schools being regulated with? With decree laws. Right now, parliament authorities have already been, in a de facto way, taken out of its hand. The problem is that the parliamentary speaker cannot speak up and make this statement. He cannot say ‘you cannot usurp the authorities of the parliament.’ The problem is here. If everyone undertook their duties, the problem would be solved,” Kılıçdaroğlu said. 

He said despite rejections from the government, the proposed changes would lead to a regime change, while he vociferously defended that the regime of the Turkish Republic should be one within the parliamentarian democratic system. 

“When you suspend the parliamentarian democratic system and replace it with a one-man rule that means you are changing the regime. You give the authorities to one person. One person rules over everything,” he said. 

Reiterating that the new charter draft will uphold the current parliamentarian system, Kılıçdaroğlu said it will give “major authorities which weren’t even given to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.”

“Do you want democracy or a one-man rule?” he asked. 

He likened the current proposed draft constitutional amendment to the one brought by the military regime of the September 12, 1980 coup.

Kılıçdaroğlu also said that the July 15, 2016 coup attempt was “a controlled coup attempt” and asked the government if they were aware of the putsch beforehand. “The CHP urges the government to reveal the political leg of the coup attempt, but the ruling Justice and the Development Party [AKP] failed to do so,” he stated.

Stressing the “dangers” that the new charter draft would bring, Kılıçdaroğlu said if one fooled the president, he would be able to capture the entire Republic of Turkey.