CHP alone in call for session on terror

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

AKP spokesperson Çelik’s remarks prompts reaction from opposition.

The main opposition party’s call to hold a special parliamentary session on terrorism today failed to receive support from the ruling party even after a lawmaker was kidnapped by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“We should not allow the PKK to set the agenda of Turkey everyday because the PKK has bombed, raided and killed a few Mehmets [a local expression for Turkish soldiers],” Hüseyin Çelik, deputy chairman and spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) said, speaking in a televised interview late Aug. 12. Çelik’s statement came as justification for the AKP’s refusal of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) proposal and prompted reaction from opposition politicians. 

The CHP submitted its appeal to the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office Aug. 7 for an extraordinary session of Parliament’s General Assembly to discuss “terror affairs and internal and external threats within the context of relations with Syria and Iraq.” One third of Parliament members, or 184 lawmakers, needed to appear at the General Assembly for the extraordinary session to convene, but both the ruling AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) gave the call the cold shoulder.

CHP deputy chair Haluk Koç described the kidnapping of CHP deputy Hüseyin Aygün as “a grave situation,” and said the prime minister and the ruling party were “making efforts to cover the gravity of this incident.” He also criticized Çelik’s remarks on fallen soldiers. “AKP spokesperson Hüseyin Çelik has reflected his inner self with some problematic remarks,” Koç told reporters yesterday.

Secretary General of the MHP İsmet Büyükataman said that Çelik’s statement could only be explained as a “subconscious psychology.” “The statements of Çelik once more indicate negligence, weakness and fondness of the AKP in the struggle against the PKK and their policy based on surrender and concession until now,” he said.

His party would not change its attitude on the issue of convening the Parliament for an extraordinary session despite the abduction of Aygün by the PKK, Çelik said. 

The Parliament could convene upon the CHP’s call. However, the AKP group would not be there, Çelik said. 

“The government is at work and has been struggling with the terrorism. During operations in Şemdinli, the CHP created a mood of panic, as if there was an outstanding situation, rendering service to the PKK propaganda and wish.

If it was necessary for sure the Assembly could convene, Çelik said.

Ahead of the extraordinary parliamentary session of today, the CHP Ankara Provincial chairman Zeki Alçın called on people to attend CHP’s parliamentary group meeting.

“We know that resolution of terror is more democratic. Parliament is the sole institution to discuss problems and solutions. We have witnessed that the state could not protect its lawmaker. This is a very grave situation that the Parliament, whose members have been kidnapped, cannot convene. CHP called the Parliament to convene to discuss the fundamental problem of this country. We invite people of Ankara to the Parliament,” Alçın said yesterday in a written statement.

MHP deputy leader Oktay Vural called on the CHP to withdraw its proposal to convene the Parliament and so that put reaction against the PKK.