Didim Today

Following the closure of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) by the Constitutional Court last week over charges of ethnic separatism, DTP leader Ahmet Türk announced that DTP deputies would resign from Parliament and “return to the heart of the nation” in protest of the court’s ruling.

Chaos and tension in the streets have escalated since the party’s closure, and analysts warn that the resigning of DTP deputies from Parliament will further aggravate tension, asking them to continue to engage in politics under the roof of Parliament, where the nation’s will is represented.

“The Constitutional Court’s closure ruling led to a huge outcry in the Southeast, and some reckless people expressed their reactions by resorting to violence, but if there is still the will to live together, the DTP deputies should not leave Parliament,” says Hürriyet’s Cüneyt Ülsever, who calls on DTP deputies to act with common sense.

In his view, the other parties in Parliament and President Abdullah Gül have a responsibility in order to dissuade the DTP deputies from resigning, and they need to take action before it is too late.

Ülsever says other parties in Parliament should conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the departure of DTP deputies from Parliament and they should make a heartfelt call to DTP deputies asking them not to resign.

As for the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party), he suggests it should push ahead with necessary amendments to the Political Parties Law and respond to the just complaints of Türk, who asked, “What would change if we stay in Parliament?” In his view, if the government reduces the election threshold from 10 percent to 5 percent, this would be the first meaningful step of the Kurdish initiative it launched to resolve the Kurdish problem.

He says Gül should invite DTP deputies to Parliament and personally ask them not to resign from Parliament. “The president cannot meddle in one’s right to exercise their own will, but it will be a very good gesture for him to ask the DTP deputies to review their decision to resign,” says Ülsever.

Considering the fact that DTP deputies have chosen to resign from Parliament and engage in politics among the public instead of in the halls of Parliament, Vatan’s Okay Gönensin says Parliament is the heart of the nation and Parliament’s lectern is the highest platform where all the demands and problems of the public can be mentioned freely. “The public elects the deputies so that they can voice and solve their problems there. It is the public that elects the deputies.

So, in order for them to say, ‘I relinquish my duties,’ there should be such a demand from the public,” says Gönensin, adding: “The center of the heart of the nation is the Turkish Parliament, and just like the entire Turkish nation, Kurdish citizens should be represented there. They should not be deprived of this right.

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