Main opposition counts on failure of AK Party

It is official now that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will not return to the Constitutional Conciliation Commission. It is also official that just as their justifications for why they left the table were not convincing, their excuses for not coming back to it are also far from convincing.

But the mystery of why the CHP is distancing itself from the commission has been solved. 

The CHP had insisted that the commission formed to write a new civilian constitution should be called the “commission saving Turkey from coup laws.” 

 “A proposal for a presidential system cannot be brought to this commission,” it also insisted - regarding a commission that bears the name “reconciliation.” The issue was not only about the name of the commission; the CHP also diluted the commission through disputes in missions and goals. 

The commission might, the CHP said, consider a proposal for the presidential system. As a result, it said it did not want to be part of a fait accompli.

The CHP made the work of the commission and the search for reconciliation meaningless from the beginning by raising minimal disputes, unreasonable disagreements, and several blockades. 

Parliament Speaker İsmail Kahraman has now written a letter to all sides, inviting them back to the commission. Party leaders have not officially responded, but CHP spokespersons are loudly declaring that they will continue to stall.  

 “Can a new constitution be written with someone who has said he would not abide by the decisions of the Constitutional Court?” asked CHP Deputy Group Chair Ergin Altay.

The other opposition parties have declared that they would not sit at the commission table without the CHP.
  
From the moment the CHP left the table, I have been suspicious that something else was lying its decision. I believe that the CHP’s public justifications do not truly explain why it left the table. 

Now it is clearer. 

It is clear that the CHP believes the commission was formed with the aim of distraction and gaining time for the government. It thinks that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was planning to simply tell the public in the end: “Look, we tried to reconcile but the opposition walked away.” The CHP believes that the AK Party formed the commission just to be able to say that once the process collapsed. 

The CHP thinks that the AK Party is not interested in reconciliation for a new constitution, but only interested in realizing Erdoğan’s presidential project. 

Did the CHP not say that a “theater play” was being staged and it would not be a tool in this?  

It never believed in this commission. It said it was a theater. It never expected any notable results. It thought that whatever it does the result would not change, and that in every case it would be blamed. 

In this situation, leaving the table would have no extra cost. The CHP may not win, but at least it wouldn’t lose anything. 

It seems clear now that the CHP is predicting that cracks will emerge in the government over the presidential system. They think these cracks will become even clearer when the theater play is over. 

This is such a CHP classic, counting on the stumbling of the government and not being able to cite any other success.

In other words, all is quiet on the main opposition front. Everything is familiar; the same as it always was.