Can the AKP abolish special courts?

Despite the Syria gloom, crazy abortion debate and many other routine oddities a glimpse of hope shined: The prospect of getting rid of the special courts.

Putting aside the abolition of the special courts, the Fethullah Gülen Islamist brotherhood has been continuing a vicious campaign for some time to stop the government from even reforming and making the special courts system less contradictory with the notion of democracy and norms of law and justice.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on the other hand, has not given up the revanchist campaign against secularist Kemalists, patriots and the nationalists. His decision to cut powers or totally abolish the special courts came after that all-powerful court system started haunting Erdoğan’s men and policies – particularly as regards to secret talks with the representatives of the separatist gang and the intelligence organization grew.

The prime minister has excited many people, including this writer, with his decision to legislate a law by Saturday and finish of that absurd and anti-democratic special courts system and provide the possibility of expertise courts. Let’s hope expertise courts – which reportedly will not have added powers like special courts – will help enforce justice in this country.

But, can the AKP get rid of special courts? This will be a real test for Erdoğan and the AKP.

Kurtulmuş in AKP?

News is spreading in Ankara that Turkey’s and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s “worshipful grand master” has found a formula to “salvage” both the country and the party once he is elevated to the presidential seat in two years’ time: To recruit Numan Kurtulmuş, the chairman of the People’s Voice Party (HAS). Not only Kurtulmuş but Democrat Party’s former chairman Süleyman Soylu is also preparing to join the AKP in the “not so distant future,” probably at the September grand convention of the ruling party.

Kurtulmuş, like incumbent President Abdullah Gül, Premier Erdoğan, and many leading members of the AKP, is someone with a Nationalist View background. When Gül, Erdoğan and other “reformists” parted from the party of Nationalist View leader Necmettin Erbakan in the aftermath of the Feb. 28, 1997 process and consequently formed the AKP Kurtulmuş preferred to stay on with Erbakan and for some time headed Erbakan’s party, but subsequently parted ways as well to establish the HAS.

It was no secret that Erdoğan was in contact with Kurtulmuş and Soylu for a long time and indeed offered both politicians opportunities to run for parliament on the AKP ticket in the 2007 elections. But why has he rehashed efforts to get the two politicians on board now? Naturally in the cauldrons of Ankara speculation started boiling that Erdoğan wanted to bring Kurtulmuş to AKP leadership and the prime ministry once he vacates those posts in August 2014 after being elected to the presidency. Could that be the reason? Even if that is the plan and strategy of Erdoğan, there is a very long uphill road from now to the presidential elections in 2014 and most likely many other plans and strategies will be developed in the mean time.

As is often repeated even one day is a very long period in Turkish politics.