Turkish president puts de facto end to oath-taking crisis

President Abdullah Gül brought a de facto end Sunday to a crisis in Parliament, inviting deputies from opposition parties that have been refusing to take the oath of office to accompany him on an official trip.

Responding to a question from the Hürriyet Daily News, Gül said he had invited many lawmakers on similar trips before. “These are elected lawmakers,” the president said at a press conference at Atatürk Airport before leaving for Sofia. “I hope this crisis gets resolved as soon as possible.” The parliamentary representatives accompanying Gül on his trip to Bulgaria were Rıfat Sait, an İzmir deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP; Özlem Yemişçi, an AKP deputy from Tekirdağ; Kemal Değirmendereli, an Edirne deputy from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP; Mehmet Siyam Kesimoğlu, a CHP deputy from Kirklareli.

Members of the CHP and independent deputies backed by the BDP have been refusing to take the oath of office after deputies from both parties were denied from entering Parliament due to being arrested in ongoing trials. Both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek expressed their hopes Friday that the ongoing crisis would be resolved over the weekend.

Delegations from the CHP and the AKP met late Friday and were expected to convene again at 10 a.m. on Monday to finalize a mutually agreed-upon declaration reflecting the political will to end the oath-taking crisis. If a compromise is reached on the content of the text, CHP deputies are expected to take the oath Monday following a public announcement of the text at 3 p.m. before the Parliament’s General Assembly, in which the government’s new program will be debated.

The AKP is reportedly inclined to announce the declaration verbally instead of in written form, a move that the CHP is said to have approached positively. The issue will also be discussed during the meeting Monday, where the AKP will be represented by Nurettin Canikli, Ahmet Aydın and Haluk İpek while the CHP will be represented by Akif Hamzacebi, Turgut Dibek and Aydın Ayaydın.

Speaking in Istanbul on Saturday, Prime Minister Erdoğan urged the opposition to act responsibly, saying that those who don’t take the oath can’t complain and can’t talk about a solution.

The text drafted by the parties’ top aides Friday highlights Parliament as the place of solution. “With the elections, the nation has pointed to Parliament as the address for a solution. We intend to solve the problems,” the text read. “The fact that elected deputies cannot take the oath is a problem for the manifestation of the nation’s will. Parliament will take the necessary steps regarding the issue by changing the constitution so such issues stemming from the laws do not happen again. The executive branch cannot interfere with the judiciary, and the judiciary cannot interfere with the executive branch.”

Parliament Speaker Çiçek worked to resolve the crisis by visiting members of the opposition.


/Hurriyet Daily News/