Özgür Özel reacts to Erdoğan's 'by-election' response: 'It is politically insolent'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel met with Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) Chairman Erkan Baş at the CHP General Headquarters Working Office in Istanbul. The two leaders made assessments regarding the agenda at a joint press conference held after the meeting.

Speaking after the meeting, Özel said:

"Today, we hosted the esteemed chairman of the Workers' Party of Turkey and their valuable delegation at our office, and we thank them for their kind visit. I had made a decision to visit the headquarters of political party leaders following the developments of last week; however, TİP also had a request for a visit to evaluate recent events, so we realized it with today's meeting. We held valuable discussions with the chairman regarding the agenda."

Following him, Baş spoke as follows:

"There is so much on the agenda both in the world and in Turkey that we cannot simply say 'we discussed these'; we evaluated everything mutually. We made assessments regarding the agenda that is heading toward the usurpation of the right to vote and be elected, and of democracy in Turkey. We served together in Parliament; we both shared a lot on the subjects of internal regulations and the Constitution, and we fought together. One must say this to Numan Kurtulmuş: Kurtulmuş will either go down in history as a Speaker of Parliament who left a deputy from his own term in prison, or he faces the obligation to fulfill the requirements of the letter sent to him by the Constitutional Court."

“BY-ELECTION IS A CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION”

Continuing his remarks, Özel touched upon the issue of by-elections and expressed the following:

"We have addressed the multi-faceted agenda rapidly and with great consensus. There is no situation to disagree on; everything discussed is about the issues that must be fulfilled if the Constitution exists in Turkey. Can Atalay starting his duty as soon as possible is also a constitutional obligation, and there are two rock-solid rulings from the Constitutional Court on this matter.

Holding a by-election is also a constitutional obligation. The previous article of the Constitution states that the President is elected. You derive your power from the Constitution, you use all your authorities, and the next article says that if there is a vacancy after 30 months have passed since the elections, a by-election is held; you say 'There is no by-election.' There may not be a by-election on the executive's agenda; it is not their job anyway; holding a by-election is the job of the legislature. You supposedly said that when this constitutional amendment came—meaning when ministers and the head of the executive were no longer elected from within parliament and were not responsible to parliament—there would be a separation of powers, and parliament would do its own job.

"SAYING THERE IS NO BY-ELECTION ON OUR AGENDA IS AN INTERFERENCE BY THE EXECUTIVE IN THE LEGISLATURE"

You said we would do our own job. Holding a by-election is the job of Parliament. Saying there is no by-election on our agenda is an interference by the executive in the legislature, and in the simplest terms, it is political insolence, an overreach of authority, and a violation of the Constitution. Who do you think you are? There is the May 1st issue that we will be talking about a lot in the coming days. There are rulings by the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights on this matter as well. There are rulings that this ban is a violation of rights so that May 1st can be celebrated freely in Taksim. Therefore, the sides are actually very clear. It is the same in the world, as autocrats and democrats. In Turkey and in the world, in America, the American branch of autocrats, rule-breakers, those who say 'whatever I say will happen,' those who make quick, unilateral, impossible decisions is Trump, and the Turkey branch is Erdoğan. Against this, all democrats in Turkey must stand together and protect the Constitution first. Because without protecting the Constitution, you cannot protect the social order and you cannot protect the ballot box."

EMPHASIS ON BY-ELECTION AND CANDIDACY TO ERDOĞAN

In his statements, Özel also touched upon the stance of AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding the by-election issue and noted the following:

"If Turkey goes to Article 78, where Erdoğan says today that we will not hold a by-election, the article above it says the president is elected every five years. Will he say 'I won't do that either, I will continue'? Since such a thing is not possible, that by-election ballot box will come as soon as possible and the elections will take place. We also evaluated this among ourselves. We see the decline of the AK Party in polls, on the streets, and in the field. Just think, the AK Party is running away from an election to be held in provinces where Kocaeli, Kastamonu, Afyon, the 1st District of Istanbul, and Hatay will vote.

"WE SAY DON'T RUN AWAY, COME LET'S COMPETE"

Actually, it is the 1st party in most of these provinces. They had very high votes in the past. In geographies where they received 65% or 70% of the vote in some places, we are now saying 'don't run away, come let's compete.' He says 'I cannot compete, I will run away despite the Constitution, I will not hold an election.' Because he also knows that in a by-election to be held, it will be revealed how much power he has lost and how the nation no longer stands behind him, and upon this, he will no longer be able to escape an early election. That is why he is trying to muddle this issue with various plans. We say the by-election is clear. No, they tried to muddle the agenda by talking about resignation, meaning the 5% vacancy in the first 30 months, as if there was a need for it when there wasn't. The situation is now very clear and you are following it; valuable professors from constitutional chairs are both explaining their views one after another and sharing the work done on this subject in the past. There is no doubt about this. There was only a de facto impossibility during the period when elections were reduced to four years. Because this article has not changed. This decision needs to be taken as soon as possible."

“KURTULMUŞ HAS A RESPONSIBILITY”

Stating that he will meet with Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, Özel concluded his words as follows:

"I will visit Mr. Numan Kurtulmuş next week. Actually, all our demands are very clearly about complying with the Constitution, and fundamentally, Numan Kurtulmuş has a responsibility in this period that encompasses the issue mentioned a moment ago, expressed by the Chairman, and binds him extraordinarily. Why? A commission was established: a democratic Turkey without terror. The commission issued a report unanimously. The chairman is Mr. Numan. Its most fundamental approach is compliance with the rulings of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Now, you are the chairman of the commission that worked on this together and under which every party signed. A specific example, a primary example: an elected deputy is in prison.

The Constitutional Court also said with its 1st ruling that he should be released. With its 2nd ruling, it said that the ruling of the lower court regarding the reading of the verdict is null and void. It told the Parliament to do its duty immediately. Well, you have your own signature. You are the commission chairman. 1, start here immediately. 2, in the implementation of ECHR and AYM rulings, beyond the responsibility of a normal citizen, a deputy, and an elected parliament speaker, there is a duty beyond all commitments as the owner of the text, the chairman of the commission where all parties came together."