​“Historic” Opposition Declaration: Will it sell in Yozgat?

TURKEY - In Brief 01 Mar 2022 by Atilla Yesilada

---

Turkey’s six leading opposition parties sans pro-Kurdish Rights HDP gathered in a room to sign a Declaration for Democracy (the Protocol), with the lieutenants reading passages from the 19 page document (link to Turkish version is here). First, I classify the promises in three categories:Those reforms which can only be enacted after the ratification of an amended constitution. I skip analyzing them, because while I am fairly certain the opposition Nation Alliance will win the next election, there is no data to suggests that they can collectively garner 360/600 seats in the Grand Assembly (GA) to enact a referendum on the constitution. Reforms that can be passed with parliamentary consensus by six parties are the second category, and finally there are those that bear on the governance of the economy. Finally, finally, I try to provide a first-pass answer to the question of whether the document will gain the opposition any votes. Yozgat, a lovely province in the deep, deep interior of Anatolia is predominantly pro-AKP and MHP. Reforms requiring a parliamentary vote A long-dormant act to regulate political ethics will be revised and legislated. The 10% national hurdle for a party to qualify for Grand Assembly will be reduced to 3%. The byelaws of GA will be amended to grant the opposition more time in debates. The authority to declare State of Emergency (SoE) will revert to the Cabinet and will require parliamentary approval. Extraordinary decrees which violate regular judicial norms, a travesty of the SoE regime, will be declared null and void. Turkey’s top judicial administrative body, the High Commission of Judges and Prosecutors will be divided into two chambers, for ...