By Nergis Demirkaya
The first concrete step has been taken in the PKK's disarmament process, a subject Turkey has been discussing for nearly 22 months. The law that will form the legal groundwork for the group's disarmament passed parliament with what has been called a 'historic consensus.' Next comes implementation. But the real question is will this process, dubbed 'Terror-Free Turkey,' contribute to the country's democratization?
According to the commission report adopted by parliament, a series of steps are needed for the process to genuinely succeed. Implementing the ECHR and Constitutional Court rulings on Selahattin Demirtaş, Osman Kavala, and Can Atalay; ensuring fairness in sentence enforcement; making pre-trial release the norm rather than the exception; lifting restrictions on press freedom; and ending the practice of appointing trustees to replace elected officials are just a few of these benchmarks.
DEM THROWS THE BALL TO PARLIAMENT ON ERDOĞAN’S NEXT TERM
If the government shows the will, all of these are changes that could be made in parliament with a simple majority. The DEM Party, which fully backs the process, regards them as non-negotiable. Gültan Kışanak, the politician recently released from the Kobani Case — where she had faced a 280-year sentence — and who expects to benefit from the forthcoming law, lists the urgent legal reforms needed after the framework law as 'regulations that will advance press and expression freedom, expand freedom of association, and, above all, changes that will keep local democracy — undermined by the trustee practice — alive.' She adds that all of this would also improve the government's prospects of drafting the new constitution it very much wants.
The DEM Party also wants a 'new constitution,' but does not consider the current debate realistic, either in substance or in timing. Framing the new constitution around President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's goal of running again is described as a 'shallow debate.' The candidacy question would instead be resolved by a parliamentary decision to call early elections. This position can also be read as a signal that the DEM Party would vote 'yes' in parliament for early elections.
What the DEM Party actually wants from a new constitution is a change to the definition of citizenship, guarantees for mother-tongue rights, and the strengthening of local government. The government's appetite for these is limited. Indeed, far from strengthening local government, the 25th Year vision document points toward centralization instead. On citizenship and mother-tongue rights, it would come as no surprise if the MHP registered objections.
Even though the AKP has publicly declared its own push for a new constitution, it is clear that the approaching election calendar will not leave much room for it. It seems more realistic, then, to simply ask whether the steps expected in the name of democratization can be taken at all. But here too there appears to be a time squeeze, driven both by questions of intent and by the agenda items the approaching election demands.
The AKP has not yet set its agenda for the new legislative session beginning in October. Still pending, however, are the Red Crescent Law and the Foreign Digital Accommodation Platforms Law. The 13th Judicial Package, which is expected to include a regulation addressing indefinite alimony after the Constitutional Court's annulment ruling, is also expected among the laws to pass during the new legislative year. Parliament will also take up the now-routine motions extending troop deployments abroad, to Syria, Iraq, and Somalia. After that, parliament will move into the 2027 budget talks, and the year will end. According to AKP sources, there is a 'possibility' that a comprehensive overhaul of the sentencing and imprisonment system — a topic that has stirred public expectation — could also be taken up during this period.
NOT ON THE AGENDA
Meanwhile, the new social-assistance model the AKP has been developing under the name Income-Supplementing Family Support System (GETAD) is also among the measures expected to be introduced before the election. A legal measure aimed at employing unemployed young people aged 18 to 25 is likewise in the queue.
Given those plans, the AKP's agenda contains nothing that might advance 'democratization.' There is a more telling sign still: the possibility that the operations targeting opposition-run municipalities could extend to Yeni Party members of parliament, with the lifting of their immunity. If such a step were taken in the new legislative session, one could easily say that hopes for democratization had been utterly dashed.
As these lines are being written, the arrest of two union leaders, Gökay Çakır and Başaran Aksu, who had been campaigning for the rights of mine workers protesting in Ankara to recover unpaid wages, can also be read as another answer the government has given to expectations of democratization.
Given this picture, it seems that setting aside the expected steps toward democratization altogether, even seeing the newly passed framework law implemented as intended would count as a major achievement.
