Agenda

Author: Prof. Dr. Ramazan Gözen

Turkish politics seems to have entered a new phase, after PKK attacks have climbed in June. The characteristic of this period is that consultation and reconciliation processes between the ruling and opposition parties have gained pace with the aim of increasing effectiveness in fight against terrorism.

Leaders held a series of talks when the ruling Justice and Development Party's proposals were found adoptable by opposition parties, namely Republican People's Party-CHP, Democratic Left Party-DSP, Welfare Party-SP and Grand Union Party-BBP. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his crew met, between 13-15 July, DSP Chairman Masum Türker, SP Chairman Numan Kurtulmuş, BBP Chairman Yalçın Topçu and CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu respectively.

Finally, Prime Minister Erdoğan had talks with the Chief of General Staff General İlker Başbuğ. Although Erdoğan-Başbuğ gathering was a weekly meeting, its agenda was the same with that of the political leaders.

All meetings saw a consensus on eliminating PKK terrorism, while a few measures to be taken have stood out. The most prominent of these are as follows: Creating a professional army, lowering 10% election threshold in the Parliamentary elections and removing adverse conditions and problems that the region has been facing.

We can evaluate the leaders' meetings from two different perspectives. First of all, this is a significant development from the standpoint of improvement of democracy and dialogue culture in Turkey.

In the past years these meetings were hard to organize; and even recently, efforts to establish a political dialogue between ruling and opposition parties have bore no results. All work to this end failed, partly due to political disputes and procedural incompatibilities. For instance, a meeting between PM Erdoğan and CHP Leader Baykal didn't take place because of a disagreement between the two, whether to hold the meeting in front of cameras or not. Because of the reasons such as these, there has been a difference of opinion between the leaders on a wide range of topics, including terrorism, unemployment, the EU or constitutional amendment. For instance, in government's well known "Democratic Drive", launched as a means to fight terrorism, there haven't been any dialogues or agreements. Considering this and the fact that a political consensus should be at hand to find lasting and effective solutions to the country's problems, the importance of the recent summit between leaders becomes more apparent.

The second most important result of the leaders' meeting is the general consensus that emerged on the necessary measures to be taken in combating terrorism. The most prominent of those is to set up a professional army or a special security force to wage a more effective fight against terror. According to what the Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül and the party leaders said, work to this end has started. Preliminary works have apparently begun for the training of specialized security forces, determining military operation conditions, providing guarantees for the social and financial dimensions.

Some questions, however, have been cast at this point. Does setting up this army mean that Turkey is focusing on a military-based solution in fighting against terrorism? Will Turkey's operations into the north of Iraq increase in number? And the most important of all, will the Democratic Drive, initiated last year, come to an end? To our opinion, all these three questions should be given negative answer. First of all, creating a professional army will ensure a better fought struggle against terrorists. A specially trained and equipped unit would surely reach a more successful result than the current situation offers. Yet, the limits and mandate of such a unit should be clearly defined bearing the past experiences in mind.

Second, setting up a professional unit doesn't and shouldn't infer that civilian efforts to be carried out against the concept of 'terrorism' will end. Motives of terrorism should be eliminated by solving economic, social, political and other related problems in the country. There is clearly a consensus on this, as these topics have been elaborated on by the leaders during their meetings.

An idea suggested within this context is to lower election threshold and pave the way for all parties to be represented in the Turkish Parliament. Although there is no agreement on this, it won't be a surprise if a legal modification is carried out in the forthcoming period.

Third, proposed professional army will act within the bounds of present international and domestic rules, as well as principles. Within this context, it can carry out cross border operations when the conditions demand so, but it can't be said that this is the prime purpose. It seems that Turkey is in tune with the US and Iraqi administrations on this. For, both the US and Iraq have been supporting Turkey in its fight against terrorism, and there is a trilateral mechanism functioning to this end. From this standpoint, Turkey's professional army, if it is set up, will continue to act according to Iraq's sovereignty and consent.

Another point in this process is to persuade Turkish public and all related representatives on taking new measures against terrorism. For it is a national issue concerning all. That is why it became a matter of democratic process. A major problem in this is that two parties, namely MHP and BBP, were out of the leaders' meeting. Inclusion of these parties into the process is necessary to provide a full consensus and success. Both PM Erdoğan and parties that were out of this process, or didn't want to be involved, should lift the obstacles and try to reconcile. It seems this issue will dominate the agenda and be the centre of many meetings, both in and out of the Turkish Parliament, in the upcoming days. At a time when a new process has begun against PKK terrorism, expansion of democracy and dialogue wave will be beneficial for Turkey in terms of finding a permanent solution to terror problem, as it matures its democracy.

Turkish politics seems to have entered a new phase, after PKK attacks have climbed in June. The characteristic of this period is that consultation and reconciliation processes between the ruling and opposition parties have gained pace with the aim of increasing effectiveness in fight against terrorism. Leaders held a series of talks when ruling Justice and Development Party's proposals were found adoptable by opposition parties, namely Republican People's Party-CHP, Democratic Left Party-DSP, Welfare Party-SP and Grand Union Party-BBP. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his crew met, between 13-15 July, DSP Chairman Masum Türker, SP Chairman Numan Kurtulmuş, BBP Chairman Yalçın Topçu and CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu respectively. Finally, PM Erdoğan had talks with the Chief of General Staff General İlker Başbuğ. Although Erdoğan-Başbuğ gathering was a weekly meeting, its agenda was the same with that of the political leaders.

All meetings saw a consensus on eliminating PKK terrorism, while a few measures to be taken have stood out. The most prominent of these are as follows: Creating a professional army, lowering 10% election threshold in the Parliamentary elections and removing adverse conditions and problems that the region has been facing.

We can evaluate the leaders' meetings from two different perspectives. First of all, this is a significant development from the standpoint of improvement of democracy and dialogue culture in Turkey.

In the past years these meetings were hard to organize; and even recently, efforts to establish a political dialogue between ruling and opposition parties have bore no results. All work to this end failed, partly due to political disputes and procedural incompatibilities. For instance, a meeting between PM Erdoğan and CHP Leader Baykal didn't take place because of a disagreement between the two, whether to hold the meeting in front of cameras or not. Because of the reasons such as these, there has been a difference of opinion between the leaders on a wide range of topics, including terrorism, unemployment, the EU or constitutional amendment. For instance, in government's well known "Democratic Drive", launched as a means to fight terrorism, there haven't been any dialogues or agreements. Considering this and the fact that a political consensus should be at hand to find lasting and effective solutions to the country's problems, the importance of the recent summit between leaders becomes more apparent.

The second most important result of the leaders' meeting is the general consensus that emerged on the necessary measures to be taken in combating terrorism. The most prominent of those is to set up a professional army or a special security force to wage a more effective fight against terror. According to what the Minister of Defense Vecdi Gönül and the party leaders said, work to this end has started. Preliminary works have apparently begun for the training of specialized security forces, determining military operation conditions, providing guarantees for the social and financial dimensions.

Some questions, however, have been cast at this point. Does setting up this army mean that Turkey is focusing on a military-based solution in fighting against terrorism? Will Turkey's operations into the north of Iraq increase in number? And the most important of all, will the Democratic Drive, initiated last year, come to an end? To our opinion, all these three questions should be given negative answer. First of all, creating a professional army will ensure a better fought struggle against terrorists. A specially trained and equipped unit would surely reach a more successful result than the current situation offers. Yet, the limits and mandate of such a unit should be clearly defined bearing the past experiences in mind.

Second, setting up a professional unit doesn't and shouldn't infer that civilian efforts to be carried out against the concept of 'terrorism' will end. Motives of terrorism should be eliminated by solving economic, social, political and other related problems in the country. There is clearly a consensus on this, as these topics have been elaborated on by the leaders during their meetings.

An idea suggested within this context is to lower election threshold and pave the way for all parties to be represented in the Turkish Parliament. Although there is no agreement on this, it won't be a surprise if a legal modification is carried out in the forthcoming period.

Third, proposed professional army will act within the bounds of present international and domestic rules, as well as principles. Within this context, it can carry out cross border operations when the conditions demand so, but it can't be said that this is the prime purpose. It seems that Turkey is in tune with the US and Iraqi administrations on this. For, both the US and Iraq have been supporting Turkey in its fight against terrorism, and there is a trilateral mechanism functioning to this end. From this standpoint, Turkey's professional army, if it is set up, will continue to act according to Iraq's sovereignty and consent.

Another point in this process is to persuade Turkish public and all related representatives on taking new measures against terrorism. For it is a national issue concerning all. That is why it became a matter of democratic process. A major problem in this is that two parties, namely MHP and BBP, were out of the leaders' meeting. Inclusion of these parties into the process is necessary to provide a full consensus and success. Both PM Erdoğan and parties that were out of this process, or didn't want to be involved, should lift the obstacles and try to reconcile.

It seems this issue will dominate the agenda and be the centre of many meetings, both in and out of the Turkish Parliament, in the upcoming days. At a time when a new process has begun against PKK terrorism, expansion of democracy and dialogue wave will be beneficial for Turkey in terms of finding a permanent solution to terror problem, as it matures its democracy.