Betrayal of parliament

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who convened his party’s parliamentary group as morning approached in the immediate aftermath of the adoption of the constitutional amendment package comprising the ‘presidential system’, appealed to judges on the Constitutional Court to which they are going to apply for annulment, ‘You, too, must stand up for the articles of the Constitution whose amendment may not even be mooted, you, too, must stand up for the supremacy of the law.’ The CHP leader, describing 21 January as the date on which parliament ‘betrayed itself,’ characterised the point that has been reached as a ‘Huge U-turn.’ Kılıçdaroğlu, warning that, ‘Turkey will buckle under this regime change,’ said, ‘The people will wreck the game.’ Kılıçdaroğlu passed on the following messages while addressing MPs and citizens at the parliamentary group that convened in the immediate aftermath of the passing of the constitutional amendment in the general assembly.

Condemnation of open voting

The people will decide. I am sad to state that certain members of parliament, who obtained the votes of the people and undertook to be the people’s deputies, signed the constitutional amendment without looking. These people cannot be said to be members of parliament, the people’s deputies. The Palace’s deputies can never be the people’s deputies. A second important point is that, if we are the people’s deputies and believe in the law and the supremacy of the law, we must cast our votes within the rules laid down by the Constitution. Particularly on the ruling wing, nearly all MPs cast their votes without entering the cabinets and while keeping tabs on one another.

Call to the Constitutional Court

I appeal in the early hours of the morning to the valued judges on the Constitutional Court who are obliged to defend and protect the supremacy of the law. You, too, must stand up for the articles of the Constitution whose amendment may not even be mooted, you, too, must stand up for the supremacy of the law. This is not only our duty, but also the duty of every citizen living in this country and especially judges.

The date parliament was betrayed

The date on which parliament handed over its own powers is today’s date. The date today is also of importance in terms of our War of Salvation. Today’s date is at the same time the date on which parliament betrayed itself. The date on which it saw fit to hand over its own powers. This power that was taken from the palace and given to the people will, under this amendment, be taken back from the people and given to the Palace. The point we have reached is a huge U-turn. They have handed the three powers, legislative, judicial and executive, over to another’s volition, to a single person. We oppose this regime change. Turkey will buckle under this regime change. We must all know that an authoritarian regime in which all powers are vested in a single person will be disastrous for Turkey’s future.

Regime in a single person’s hands

While confronted with huge problems internally and externally and while having given the government a blank cheque to solve these problems, they toss these problems to one side and say, ‘Come what may, we will change the regime. We will introduce the presidential system. We will give all power to a single person.’ This constitutional amendment will guarantee the future of one person alone. The future of 80 million is thrown on the fire. Absolutely no citizen has security of life and property just now. Under this constitutional amendment, the lack of security of life and property will be made permanent.

The people will wreck it

I heartily believe that our people will wreck the game played in parliament. Our people will correct the mistake made in parliament. There is no turning back the two-hundred-year struggle for democracy.

It will be brought before the Constitutional Court with evidence

Once the constitutional amendment has been promulgated in the Official Gazette, the CHP will apply to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that AKP MPs cast ‘open votes’ in the ballot in the Parliamentary General Assembly. Constitutional amendments cannot be brought before the Constitutional Court for annulment in ‘substantive’ terms. So, the CHP will seek cancellation in ‘procedural/formal’ terms on the grounds that the provision of the constitution that, ‘constitutional amendment shall be made through secret vote’ was violated.

The CHP, which has taken stock of the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court in the application made by the party regarding the 2010 constitutional amendment, will take steps to ‘prove’ that open votes were cast particularly in the second round of voting. Alongside the opposition’s objections, footage and photographs of AKP members voting openly without entering the cabinet are expected to be included in the case file. The CHP alleges that the amendments made also violate the unamendable first four articles of the Constitution. Reasons in relation to this are also expected to be included in the application for annulment.

Deemed by the Constitutional Court to be grounds for annulment

The CHP, which is preparing an application citing violation of the principle of a secret ballot over the constitutional package, is relying above all on the ruling issued by the Constitutional Court over the application that the ‘principle of a secret ballot’ provided for in Article 175 of the Constitution was violated in the parliamentary vote on the 2010 constitutional amendment. The top court concentrated on the second round of voting on the grounds that the first round of voting was not decisive. The Constitutional Court denied the CHP’s application on the grounds that there was no evidence ‘to prove the allegation of impropriety in the second round of voting.’ The ruling is thus interpreted to mean that the Constitutional Court may grant annulment if it is substantiated through evidence that blatant impropriety was conducted through open voting that may have affected the result of the ballot in the second round of voting.