Parties agree to avert crisis on charter

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Members of Parliament’s Constitution Conciliation Commission have come up with a formula to avert a potential crisis in writing the new charter’s articles by relegating each party’s priorities to the reasoning section of the blueprint.

The formula emerged after in-depth discussions about how to pen the article on “equality” resulted in nearly 10 days of deadlock. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have insisted that the article should also cover the rights of those with different sexual orientations, but they faced opposition from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

But the AKP members did ask for a few days’ break before finalizing the deal on the formula because they first wanted to obtain the approval of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The four parties have agreed that the equality article should state that “everyone is equal before the law. No one shall be subjected to discrimination for any reason.” The reasoning, however, will expand the scope of the article which will also refer to international conventions as well.

CHPand BDP pushed for the inclusion of “gender equality, assurances against social discrimination, sexual orientations and ethnic identities” as well. The BDP’s Sırrı Süreyya Önder also pressed to include sexual orientations and ethnic identities in the equality article.