July 30, 2007

Nineteen independent candidates supported by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) completed procedures to register as parliamentary representatives in Parliament on Sunday.

Ahmet Türk, the DTP leader who temporarily stepped down to run as in independent candidate, spoke to the press following completion of the registration procedure. Türk said this year’s election was very important to the DTP and that his party’s group would work to make democracy permanent and develop a peace process. Expressing that his party’s major aim was to bring civilian and democratic methods to the foreground and solve problems, including the Kurdish question, in the peaceful framework of dialogue.

“As a group we will try to be the people’s voice in Parliament. We understand dialogue and consensus to be fundamental. Our aim is to consider the sensitivities of 72 million people and conduct politics that will express their problems,” he claimed.

He said as a group they would be acting with full awareness of their responsibility to realize the brotherhood of people that have lived together for a thousand years.

Türk said the DTP would also strive to transform Turkey into a civilian and democratic republic and avoid creating tension in Parliament. After stressing that they expected support from all seg,emts of society, he added: “Because one-sided goodwill and dialogue cannot solve anything, it would prove inconsequential. We want to see an approach from the government that will contribute to peaceful efforts.”

When asked about the DTP’s position on AK Party deputy and constitutional law professor Zafer Üskül’s statement that a new civilian constitution would leave out references to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Türk said they were ready to support efforts to form a civilian constitution. He then expressed the view that it was a responsibility of Parliament to “erase the traces of military takeovers.”

“In the end we want a democratic and contemporary constitution. Nowadays everybody interprets the principles and revolutions of Atatürk according to his or her own ideas. In reality we want a modern understanding in their interpretations. Instead of ideological discussions, we should have a civilian constitution that responds to the demands of our age,” he explained.

Meanwhile former head of the Human Rights’ Association (İHD) Akın Birdal, also elected to Parliament as an independent, announced that he had accepted Türk’s offer to join the DTP’s parliamentary group.

DTP Deputy Chairwoman Aysel Tuğluk, also temporarily resigned from her party, made a statement to the press on Sunday in which she asserted, “We are here to serve our country.”

She said that sitting next to the Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) deputies, as determined by the parliamentary seating plan, would “not create any problems.”

Sırrı Sakık, another DTP member elected as an independent candidate from the province of Muş, expressed great excitement about being a Parliament member. Recalling that members of a DTP predecessor elected in 1991 left Parliament after one took the oath of allegiance in Kurdish, Sakık said, “I wish that incident had never happened.”

Chatting with reporters Sunday after completing his registration, Sakık claimed that a change made to the ballots which listed the names of independent candidates had caused confusion for DTP voters. “We would have come in with 30 or 35 deputies if names of the independent candidates had been written on a separate ballot,” he said.

Also in the conversation Sakık claimed the 10 percent election threshold that forced members of the DTP to run as independents was unfair. Additionally he expressed his opinion that the larger number of female representatives in Parliament should be seen and used as a good opportunity for Turkey.