Commission Impossible

Issue #259

Pre-recap warm up: What’s the capital of Turkey? Apparently, no one knows.

How about traditional dance names by region? Now that you’re horon your toes, let’s get into it.

In this week’s recap:

• Bahçeli calls for peace process commission

• Imamoğlu confidant flips, arrests sweep Istanbul

• US-Turkey coordinate on Syria

• Domestic and diplomatic wraps

• Kaşar rules everything around me

Also from us this week:

• Ezgi Başaran put the peace process in context on Recap radio

• Meltem Akyol on how the process could prompt reforms for sick prisoners

• Follow news from parliament with our Turkish-language newsletter: Meclis recap

Erdoğan and Bahçeli pictured in their last meeting on May 6. © TCCB

Like the lines on a circuit board, the peace process zig zags in all directions with each node serving a purpose – even if we don’t know what it is.

To sum up the last week, Bahçeli proposed a commission to oversee the process, and Kurdish figures clarified their stances as the AKP prepared a legal reform package.

There’s a lot of moving parts, including Syria (covered below), so let’s review one at a time.

Kurds: DEM Party’s Pervin Buldan visited Öcalan Sunday, bringing back the PKK leader’s messages for “brotherhood” between Turks and Kurds (echoing Ankara’s narrative) and calling for a “major shift” in relations.

This comes after a Turkish Defense Ministry spox last week told reporters that Ankara would continue military operations in Iraqi Kurdistan until the region is “cleared” of threats. A central Iraqi government spox, meanwhile, said Baghdad was ready to assist in the PKK disarmament process.

In an interview with AFP, a PKK spox called for improved prison conditions for Öcalan, who he framed as “our chief negotiator” and the only figure who “can lead the practical implementation of the [PKK’s] decision” to disarm and disband.

Referring to the road ahead for PKK militants, the spox stated: "Real peace requires integration, not exile.”

Bahçeli: In a statement Sunday, the MHP chair called for the establishment of a parliamentary commission to oversee a road map for the peace process. Here’s a simplified version outlining seven principles for the commission, which would include 100 members from 16 political parties.

Politicians and families have expressed general support for the process, but reservations remain, especially in IYI Party. Notably, journalist Ceren Bayar reported AKP members were not aware of Bahçeli’s plan to call for a commission, with some key figures stating the commission should be established after PKK disarmament is complete.

Gönül Tol, director of the Turkey program at the Middle East Institute, said Bahçeli is clearly in a hurry to advance the process.

“Even people in his inner circle don't seem to understand why he's pushing things so hard,” Tol told Turkey recap.

She acknowledged regional instability and/or actors could potentially disrupt negotiations, and that time is of the essence, but said the commission might also be a power play.

“I think this is Bahçeli’s way of tying the whole thing to his party and increasing his leverage,” Tol said.

Overall, a commission would require cooperation between the AKP-MHP coalition and the CHP, which has been calling for a parliamentary framework on the process. So, the commission initiative is broadly supported, but apparently came as a surprise.

AKP: Looking ahead, the AKP began consulting political parties to finalize a legal reform package on “infaz” laws, which enforce prison sentences (see our latest report for details.)

Ruling party members first met with DEM Wednesday, and plan to meet with CHP, IYI and Yeni Yol this week. Outlining DEM’s expectations in her parliamentary group speech Tuesday, DEM co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları said:

“Peace academics can be reinstated, sick prisoners can be released, political prisoners can regain their freedom, ECHR decisions can be urgently implemented, trustees can be taken back. Let's make these arrangements quickly.”

Additionally, Seren Selvin Korkmaz, co-director of the İstanPol Institute and Mercator-IPC Fellow at the İstanbul Policy Center, said the release of former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş may also be discussed.

“I think Demirtaş’ release is possible, but I don't expect his direct involvement in politics as soon as he has been released … because a politically-active Demirtaş might change some scenarios for not only DEM party, but also for AKP and MHP.”

In the coming AKP-CHP meeting, the opposition party will reportedly address the rights of arrested protesters and Can Atalay, a jailed ex-MP for the Workers’ Party of Turkey who was stripped of his parliamentary seat.

Turnout was high at Özel’s Izmir rally Monday, May 19. © CHP

Snitch in the matrix: Imamoğlu confidant flips, arrests sweep Istanbul