Did You Know Parliament Lost Its Authority To Draw Up A New Constitution?

BY MAHMUT OVUR
SABAH- Constitutional Court Chief Justice Hasim Kilic made remarks well worth listening to last month when he announced the verdict in the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Back then, he said that constitutional and legal changes needed to provide solidarity in modern democratic countries have yet to be made here, but having a closure case brought against a political party has spurred vigorous discussion of this need. Kilic then urged political parties to reach a consensus over changes to the Political Parties Law. His statement was welcomed by the nation. For years our political parties, and especially the AKP, have been unable to provide common ground to make these changes.

So can they create it? The hope created by the decision not to close down the AKP at least shows that these changes can be made. The nation also hopes this. But it seems that even if we don't know if the AKP learned any lessons from this closure attempt, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is cold on the idea of a new Constitution. That leaves the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Democratic Society Party (DTP), but as we saw with the overturned law on headscarves, their support isn't enough. So what will happen? As the AKP's plan is unknown, nothing is definite, but there's one pivotal point in the midst of all this.

About a month-and-a-half ago, before the verdict on the closure case, news magazine Aktuel published an interview with AKP deputy leader Dengir Mir Fyrat. The interviewer said that the AKP had been working on a democratic package including changes to the Political Parties Law, greater transparency, and a new political ethics commission in Parliament. Then he asked Firat if this work was still underway and who was drawing up a new Constitution.

Firat replied that the politics in Turkey moves very rapidly. 'But making legal changes to strengthen democracy isn't in the cards, because changing the Political Parties Law requires first changing the Constitution,' he added. 'Under a recent Constitutional Court decision, Parliament seems unable to use its authority under Article 132. This decision took away Parliament's authority to draw up a new Constitution and gave it to the judicial branch. So don't expect any change in terms of democracy in Turkey. I believe first we need to clarify who has the authority to draw up a new Constitution.'

Firat is a politician with a legal background. He openly says that the Parliament had its authority taken away. So we rescued the AKP, but we lost Parliament. So what does this mean? It means the AKP can't make any legal changes in Parliament during the next legislative year. So 2008 can't be our 'Year of Europe.' But First also said: 'The AKP can't solve this problem alone. Political parties - mostly the CHP and MHP - agree that the problem exists, but they also show that they're not sincere about seeking a solution.' I don't know, maybe the Constitutional Court knew this and that's why it didn't close down the AKP. Actually I'm curious what will happen next. So the AKP will either call for early elections, or find a way to reach a consensus with other parties. Which do you think will happen?