Respect for faiths in the funerals of soldiers

Kenan Ceylan who died in uniform in Hakkari Şemdinli is an Alevi from Tokat. That’s why two separate funerals were held. The first one was held in a cemevi (an Alevi house of worship), according to his faith and the official funeral was held in front of the building of the provincial governor.

Ayşe Yıldırım from daily Cumhuriyet recalls that this is not a first and gives several examples.

On Aug. 11, the funeral of another Alevi from Malatya, Barış Aybek who died in Şırnak, was hastily held in a mosque based on the argument that state officials would attend it. When Baki Düzgün, the head of the Alevi Bektaşi Federation made an application saying, “We want to hold the funerals of Alevi soldiers in cemevis,” the answer he received was, “This is a state issue. In order to have an official ceremony, the state needs to accept it officially.”

The European Court of Justice has taken a decision that cemevis should be accepted as houses of worship.
The Supreme Court has officialized this situation with a recent ruling.

At any rate, there was no need for the European court or the Supreme Court to make such a decision. Freedom of religion is under the guarantee of the constitution and the secularism principle stipulates that the state does not have a religion.

Follow the decision of the Supreme Court, stop hiding behind the argument of “the state does not accept it” and respect people’s faith.

The CHP and MHP made a mistake

The ministries of the government that will take the country to the elections are divided according to the seats political parties hold in the parliament.

The constitution did not specify how this division will be made. But what is normal should have been this: the person assigned to form the government (in this case, Ahmet Davutoğlu) should have asked political parties to designate the names. Because the government is being formed for the elections and the constitution talks about the representation of the parties in the government.

Davutoğlu did not do that and he himself proposed ministries to certain names according to criteria he set.

At the end of that, one person accepted and two refused from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), while all three names from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) refused.

So the government has become a controversial one. The prime minister will appoint independent names but it is dubious to what degree they will act independently.

I think the MHP and CHP made a mistake. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has done the right thing by opting to enter the government.

Indeed, the prime minister has done the abnormal, not the normal, but it was very important to be present in this government.

Because there is a possibility this government might stay in power longer even after the elections.

Two months will pass until the elections. If a new government cannot be formed after the election, then this government will be in power until the next cabinet is formed for early elections. So it will be in power at least six months.

The CHP and MHP have lost the ability to monitor and inspect the activities of the government.

Isn’t this clearly a mistaken policy? You refrain from representing in the government those who have voted for you and sent to the parliament.

Politics is not something in which you say, “No, I don’t want to play anymore.”