TİP statement on the confidentiality decision taken in the commission: 'No information was shared'

The second meeting of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, established in line with the goal of a "Turkey without terrorism," was held. At the beginning of the meeting, a decision of "full confidentiality" was taken unanimously. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş stated that no information regarding the meeting could be shared externally and that the minutes would not be published for 10 years.

The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) issued a statement regarding the confidentiality decision taken for the 2nd session of the 'National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission.' In the statement made by TİP, it was said, "No information that has not been brought to the public agenda to date was shared at the meeting; the confidentiality decision was specific to one session."

The written statement made by TİP is as follows:

FIRST MEETING REPORTED

"Participation: The first meeting was held under the chairmanship of Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş with the participation of 48 out of 51 members, due to the failure to notify the three members allocated to the İYİ Party. At the meeting, commission members from all other parties represented in Parliament took part with full attendance.

Agenda: The commission met with the agenda of the working procedures and principles of the commission. Discussions began on the draft titled 'Working Procedures and Principles of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission' presented by the Speaker of Parliament.

Content: Representatives of all parties expressed their views and suggestions on the general evaluations regarding the commission and the draft presented.

On behalf of our party, our Istanbul Deputy, our comrade Ahmet Şık, conveyed our party's views, suggestions, and evaluations regarding the commission in detail, commemorating our comrade Can Atalay, who is imprisoned in Silivri, and referring to the historic decision on the Kurdish Question taken at the 4th congress of the 1st TİP in 1970."

"OUR COMRADE AHMET ŞIK ABSTAINED"

"All of our proposals regarding both the essence and the procedure of the commission's operation are available on our website and our YouTube channel.

As a result of our objections to the items in the first draft presented by the Speaker of Parliament, which stated that the follow-up of the meeting by the press would be determined solely by the Speaker and that minutes might not be kept in some meetings, the necessary changes were made. In the current situation, political parties will also have a say in determining the agenda, and minutes will be kept at every meeting.

Our objection regarding the validity of the 'two-thirds' ratio, which would better support pluralism, against the item in the first draft requiring a three-fifths majority of the total number of members for meeting decisions, was not accepted by the commission as a whole.

In line with the suggestions from all parties, the relevant draft was resubmitted to the commission with partial changes. Since there were still points that could be improved in the final draft, our comrade Ahmet Şık abstained in the vote held by open ballot. However, since all those who voted cast their votes in favor, the Parliament Speaker stated that the decision was taken unanimously, and the process was reflected to the press in this way."

"EVEN IF IT CAN TAKE PLACE AS A CLOSED SESSION, THIS SITUATION MUST BE ENTIRELY EXCEPTIONAL"

2nd Meeting dated August 8, 2025

"Participation: The second meeting was held under the chairmanship of Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş with the participation of 48 members, due to the failure to notify the three members allocated to the İYİ Party. The İYİ Party was given time until the next meeting, and it was stated that if no member is notified, these three memberships will be distributed among the AKP, CHP, and DEM Party.

Agenda: The commission met with the agenda of presentations to be made by MİT Undersecretary İbrahim Kalın, Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya, and Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler. Content: The motion regarding the session where the presentations took place being held in secret was voted on and accepted unanimously. At this meeting, the commission did not engage in any internal debate, did not take any decisions, and only listened to what was presented. No information that has not been brought to the public agenda to date was shared at the meeting.

As we stated in our procedural suggestions at the first meeting, while some sessions may take place as closed sessions considering the sensitivity and importance of the process, this situation must be entirely exceptional.

It is clear that applying the closed session to all meetings of the commission will hinder the transparency of the process and, therefore, its socialization.

We stand behind our belief that Parliament must play a critical role in the process, with the awareness that the commission process proceeding through meetings held behind closed doors from the very beginning increases justified social concerns and suspicions. However, we would like to specifically state that the claims in some media outlets that all commission work will be conducted in secret do not reflect the truth, and that a confidentiality decision was taken only for the presentations made in this session.

Our fundamental principle is that openness is the rule and privacy is the exception in the work. We would like to reiterate once again that if there is an intention for this exceptional practice to become an established procedure, we will definitely stand against it."