Opposition parties' group proposals rejected in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

In the General Assembly, the group proposals of the Saadet Party on "measures to be taken against a possible earthquake in Istanbul," the IYI Party on "tradesmen loan interest rates," the DEM Party on the "October 6-8 events," and the CHP on the "problems of personnel serving in the police force" were discussed separately. The opposition parties' group proposals were rejected by the votes of the AKP and MHP.

Speaking on his party's group proposal, Saadet Party Istanbul Deputy Mustafa Kaya recalled previous earthquakes and noted that the political institution had not learned the necessary lessons from them.

Stating that Istanbul officially hosts approximately 20 million people, Kaya said, "Danger bells are ringing for Istanbul. The internal migration that cannot be stopped, the presence of irregular migrants from other countries, the problems caused by unplanned urbanization, and the fact that traffic has now turned into a chronic problem threaten Istanbul in both material and spiritual terms. Steps must be taken immediately for Istanbul."

Speaking on his party's group proposal, IYI Party Bursa Deputy Yüksel Selçuk Türkoğlu touched upon Turkey's economic situation.

Türkoğlu said, "Our tradesmen, who are trying to overcome the multifaceted problems brought about by the economic crisis with sacrifice, have also been faced with an extra interest rate shock demanded on the commercial loans they use, in addition to all of this. Today, tradesmen are already in a difficult situation; with tightening market conditions, they need a lifeline, they need affordable loans, and as if that were not enough, you are loading another burden onto the shoulders of the tradesmen."

DEM Party Erzurum Deputy Meral Danış Beştaş, in her speech on her party's group proposal, stated that they had submitted a motion for the investigation of the October 6-8 events for the 10th time, but that their motions had been rejected by the ruling party.

Explaining the developments during the resolution process, Beştaş noted the following:

"If our friends are being held responsible for a tweet in the Kobani conspiracy case, who is responsible for the deaths that occurred on July 15? We are asking this to Turkey. Just as we cannot hold the government responsible for deaths against a coup, there can be no reaction more legitimate than the public's protest against the threat of massacre of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Kobani conspiracy case."

Chairman of the TBMM Justice Commission and AKP Istanbul Deputy Cüneyt Yüksel responded to the criticisms.

Pointing out that the HDP Central Executive Board and the terrorist organization PKK called for people to take to the streets during the Kobani events, Yüksel said:

"In the violent incidents that occurred following these calls, barricades were set up and roads were blocked in 35 provinces, 96 districts, and 131 settlements, primarily in our provinces in the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions, by supporters of the terrorist organization YPG-PKK. During the incidents, public buildings, our citizens' homes, workplaces, and vehicles were damaged with long-barreled weapons, Molotov cocktails, fireworks, stones, and sticks. A total of 37 people lost their lives and 761 people were injured in the events. In Diyarbakır, 16-year-old Yasin Börü and his friends, who were distributing sacrificial meat to the poor for Eid al-Adha, were lynched as a result of an attack by a terrorist group, and the bodies of these young people were tortured.

There is no place for calls to violence in democracies. These events are a terrorist uprising targeting the survival of our state by the separatist organization and its elements, using developments in Syria as an excuse. It is contrary to law and democracy to try to whitewash the events by ignoring the 37 citizens who died due to the terrorist uprising by calling it a political case."

Yüksel stated that Turkey is a state that targets terrorist organizations on the basis of law and justice and fights against terrorism for the peace and security of its citizens.

Speaking on his party's group proposal, CHP İzmir Deputy Murat Bakan described the problems of police personnel.

Stating that police personnel are among the occupational groups with the highest number of suicides in Turkey, Bakan said, "Why does a police officer who entered this profession with love and desire in the prime of his life commit suicide? And why does a police chief who has reached retirement age, at an age when he should be seeing his children's milestones, commit suicide? In the past, the suicide rate was highest among young police officers; now, young and old alike, police chiefs have also been committing suicide recently."

Chairman of the TBMM Security and Intelligence Commission and AKP Kocaeli Deputy Veysal Tipioğlu also emphasized that the police force is one of the most fundamental organizations tasked with protecting the structure of the modern Republic of Turkey, which is based on human rights and human dignity.

Touching upon the services provided by AK Party governments to the police force, Tipioğlu said, "When the AK Party came to power, we doubled the number of personnel, which was 189 thousand, and made our police force a more active, more effective, and more agile organization with the vehicles, equipment, technology, and weapons it uses. During our governments, our police force has been brought above world standards and has reached a level where it can provide training to many countries. All of this is being done and will continue to be done to ensure that our police personnel can maintain their daily lives in the best way possible and serve our nation in the best way possible."

Sharing statistics regarding suicide incidents, Tipioğlu noted the following:

"When we look at world countries, between 2009 and 2018, the rate was 34.92 per 100,000 in France, 19.4 in Portugal, 16.1 per 100,000 in Australia, 16 per 100,000 in the USA, and 15.7 per 100,000 in Turkey. As a result of the studies conducted, the rate of police suicides in our country is lower than in European countries. However, I want to express that the life of every single one of our police officers is very precious and that we do not accept losing even a single life."

In the separate votes held, the group proposals of the CHP, DEM Party, IYI Party, and Saadet Party regarding the agenda were not accepted.

Subsequently, the deliberations on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Turkish Commercial Code and Certain Laws, which also includes increasing penalties for exorbitant pricing and hoarding, were initiated.

News Source: AA