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Ahmet Şık reads Can Atalay's letter in committee: 'I will list them under 7 headings'

Ahmet Şık, representing the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) in the committee, read a letter sent by Can Atalay, the elected Hatay MP currently imprisoned in the Gezi Park case, during his speech at the committee meeting.

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The committee held its first meeting today. During the aforementioned meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), Ahmet Şık, representing TİP, read a letter from the imprisoned elected Hatay MP Can Atalay. In the letter, which was also shared on his social media account, Atalay presented 7 proposals to the committee.

The first meeting of the 'solution' committee established in the TBMM was held today at the TBMM Ceremony Hall.

Ahmet Şık, who is in the committee on behalf of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), read a letter sent by the elected Hatay MP Can Atalay, who is imprisoned in the Gezi Park case, during his speech at the committee.

The letter in question was also shared on Can Atalay's social media account.

The full text of the letter, in which Atalay has 7 proposals for the committee, is as follows:

"Mr. Chairman,

Honorable Members of Parliament,

I respectfully greet the esteemed members of the Committee;

I would like to begin by wishing the committee success.

A beginning of historical importance is being made for the future of our country. I attach importance to the committee's work, and like many political parties participating, we are taking our place at the table despite many uncertainties regarding the procedure and its future. We attach importance to the step taken by taking the Parliament as a basis for the first time towards the solution of the Kurdish Question, which is one of the most prominent problems of our country's democratization, even if the style is highly controversial.

As a member of parliament in prison who was elected by the votes of the citizens and who, according to the Constitution and the decisions repeatedly made by the Constitutional Court regarding me, should currently be performing legislative and supervisory duties in Parliament, I also find the committee's activities important.

I will list my proposals under seven headings:

1. We have differences in our fundamental assessments. We are here despite many uncertainties. For example, I would have liked to address you by the committee's name. Unfortunately, it does not even have a name we have agreed upon. In the same way, we constantly say "Process," but there is no clarity even on whether there is a process or not. We also do not have a clear job description for which the Parliament has determined the scope. There are those among us who do not even see the Kurdish Question as a problem. We are here primarily with the decisions we have made with a sense of responsibility.

We will make our warnings and suggestions regarding the substance and the procedure being applied. The committee needs to take important steps in terms of "bringing the possible to the fore and being a facilitator for its immediate implementation."

2. The pre-acceptance of "bringing the possible to the fore" should not condemn the Committee to narrowed agendas. For the sake of priorities, the narrowing of the agenda should not be imposed. The priority is "removing/casting the weapon out of politics." However, the main problem of our country waiting for a solution is democratization. Overcoming all kinds of discrimination and progressing towards democratization and equal citizenship can be permanently resolved as the Kurdish Question. We declare from the very beginning that we do not adopt approaches that set a lifespan for the committee with narrowed agendas.

3. What makes a parliamentary table possible on the issue we define by its name as the Kurdish Question is that the Kurdish Politics has made the "decision to bid farewell to arms." The fact that they have reached the decision that there can no longer be a place for weapons in politics is an important guarantee for the process to begin and continue. Underlining this point is important in terms of determining the point where we will start and determining the "steps we must take first."

The decision to "definitively end the armed struggle within the borders of Turkey and against Turkey" is of historical importance. Throughout the process, steps appropriate to this historical moment should be taken, and especially the taking of steps that will cast a shadow over this process and prevent the establishment of social peace should be prevented.

4. Our committee must have the information provided to some of the political parties in order to determine its priorities. Without such collective and detailed information, there will be no opportunity to develop discussions and proposals in the committee, and to make a holistic assessment by linking the proposals made to the concrete situation.

This situation requires complete transparency in the committee and towards the public. There should be no restrictive interventions in carrying the topics to the public and discussing them, both while the committee is being informed and by the committee participants.

Full information, transparency, and widespread discussion that will include the public through real information will provide strong social support for the decisions taken on critical issues. Transparency is a prerequisite for social consensus. If this sensitivity is not ensured, it is quite natural for the work to be seen as things done to achieve a result behind closed doors.

5. Until today, the "Process" has progressed through de facto situations. Another main task of the committee is the preparation of the legal framework necessary for the Parliament to direct and supervise the "Process."

Primarily, to accelerate the abandonment of weapons; what will be done for those who lay down their arms to participate in social life, reviewing the situations of those in prison in accordance with new developments, and the right to hope are topics that need to be resolved urgently. Each step of progress will also make it easier to talk about issues related to history. Starting to talk with "history" from today will not be a facilitator.

None of these headings can be resolved by being detached from the first, the de facto situation, and the second, the general democratization heading. These headings cannot be handled with the de facto practices of the administration; if an attempt is made to handle them, it will not be safe for anyone. "Law" is the first requirement and guarantee of the process. Guaranteeing the gains of the process cannot be achieved without law, "without laws."

6. Even if the steps to be taken to advance the process are "legal," they must also be compatible with the integrity of our law. For example, while the aim is "for those who lay down their arms to participate in social life," it would be a great contradiction to see election collaborations as a crime and to continue imprisonments and trials. With the same logic, while the path to socialization is opened for a section of citizens, the elected should not be prevented from performing the duty given by the citizen through methods such as trustees. Again, trying to solve problems with de facto practices or "special laws" instead of applying the ECHR and AYM decisions that we are obliged to apply according to the Constitutional Court and the Constitution, and thus strengthening our democratic structure, will not only harm the Process first and foremost, but will also have no social response.

Rights and practices that are the requirement of the current legal order should not be a matter of bargaining. Steps that are "already" the requirement of the Constitution and laws should be taken. The state of detention should be applied with the clarity foreseen in the law, and detention should be removed from being a tool of advance punishment.

7. No matter how we name it, there is a "process" experience in the recent period. An important factor in its failure is regional influences. In this respect, a peaceful, constructive regional foreign policy is a sine qua non of the Process. Helping the democratic structuring of countries that have emerged from civil war by respecting the internal affairs of neighboring countries will directly positively affect the developments in our country. The opposite situation, taking a stance against the democratic rights of peoples in the region, has the potential to destroy the "internal" process.

In this respect, developing proposals for a patient, facilitating, peaceful, democratic foreign policy based on the integrity of the countries in the region should also be counted among the duties of the committee.

I wish you success in your work…

Şerafettin Can Atalay

Elected Hatay MP

Marmara (Silivri) Prison, 9-A47"