Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The Parliament’s National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission listened to think-tankers and pollsters to test the ground for public support for the peace process. The 12th meeting of the commission established in the wake of PKK’s decision to disband and lay down arms took it to 50 days of work completed to date. The commission is now preparing to shift to drafting proposals in October.
Following the PKK’s dissolution and decision to lay down arms, the Parliamentary Commission on Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy has completed 45 days of work. Having met 11 times, the commission will discuss a “Return Home Law” once parliament reopens on Oct. 1.
DEM Party Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit has renewed her party’s call for the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission to visit imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island.
Numan Kurtulmuş is currently the speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and as such also chairs the “National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission” formed to seek a solution to the Kurdish question. But if we were to borrow the rhetorical style of MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, we might ask: “Who is Kurtulmuş, where did he come from, and where is he heading?”
A DEM Party delegation traveled to İmralı Island on Aug. 28 to meet with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, the first visit since Parliament formed the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission.
The parliamentary National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission held two tense meetings this week, first hearing from Turkey’s bar associations and then from former parliamentary speakers.The MPs on the commission, who had so far avoided direct confrontation, engaged in their first open war of words after bar leaders gave long speeches stressing constitutional rights and the rule of law.
Turkey Bar Association (TBB) President Erinç Sağkan told parliament’s National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission that no political or legal issue in Turkey can be resolved without respect for the constitution.