Fist-fights erupted in the Turkish parliament yesterday as the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) moved to impose a series of
constitutional amendments aimed at turning the country into a
presidential dictatorship under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Two deputies, one of the AKP and another of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’
Democratic Party (HDP), were hospitalized with injuries after the
fighting, which erupted after another deputy, independent Aylin
Nazliaka, handcuffed herself to the speakers’ microphone. Nazliaka said
her action was a protest at the handcuffing of the parliament by the
broad powers the proposed constitutional reforms would grant to the
president.
The parliament nonetheless continued voting on the measures,
approving yesterday Article 12 of the 18-point constitutional amendment
package. This article, approved with only 12 votes over the necessary
330-vote threshold, grants the president the authority to impose a state
of emergency.
More broadly, the amendments in the bill extend the president’s power
over the legislative and judiciary branches. They enable the president
to issue decrees, appoint ministers and top state officials—including
the majority of the higher judicial bodies—and to dissolve parliament,
while making it considerably harder to try or dismiss the president.
To impose the bill, Erdogan and the AKP are working closely with the
fascistic Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). During the debates, AKP
lawmakers consistently attacked the members of the two opposition
parties, the Kemalist Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the HDP.
The MHP’s legalistic denials of charges that it is working with the
AKP to impose the constitutional amendment package only served to
underscore the close collaboration between the two parties. The AKP and
the MHP, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli told reporters in parliament on
Thursday, “are two separate legal entities. We will have discourses
within which we will say ‘yes’ in our own way.”
Bahçeli denied reports that the MHP is supporting Erdogan’s amendment
because it is certain that it will have seats in a future AKP-led
government, however. “We are not in a state to answer such a question
regarding the future,” he said. “We have not stated an opinion about the
future in this process.”
In the meantime, however, AKP sources confirmed that they were
coordinating their actions with the MHP. “We will evaluate what the MHP
will do during the campaign,” an AKP source told Hurriyet. “The MHP will carry out its own rallies, but we will coordinate with them.”
The desperate manoeuvres by Turkish opposition politicians reflect a
broad awareness in the ruling class that Erdogan’s amendments would
undermine basic democratic rights and mark a major step towards
dictatorship. On Monday, 62 former Turkish diplomats issued a statement
against the amendments. “We are deeply concerned that such a development
will further divide Turkey and will put it into a serious internal and
external crisis at a time when the Republic of Turkey is facing
terrorism, economic difficulties and the threat of war,” they said.
The drive of Erdogan and the AKP towards dictatorship is bound up
with the intense and explosive crisis facing the Turkish bourgeoisie.
Facing escalating social opposition in the working class and sharp
conflicts with its imperialist allies in the NATO alliance over the war
in Syria, Erdogan is strengthening a dictatorial regime to be used
against the working class, as well as against further attempts by
Washington and Berlin to topple his regime.
With strike activity increasing in Britain and in Spain, there are
growing signs that the working class is going on the offensive in Turkey
and across Europe. Some 2,650 metal workers in 14 factories in Turkey
decided to go on strike, as collective bargaining between companies
(General Elektrik Grid Solution, Schneider Enerji, Schneider Elektrik
and ABB) and the trade union failed to reach a conclusion.
With the help of the United Metalworkers Union, which from the
beginning worked closely with the government and did its best to block
opposition among the workers, strike action was postponed by a cabinet
resolution for 60 days. This was on the grounds that the strike was
deemed to be of a “nature that will impair national security.” The
decision points to the fact that the government aims to ban strike
activity, fearing that the increasing economic and political crisis will
drive ever broader sections of the working class into struggle.
The Turkish lira is plunging towards an unprecedented level of four
lira to the US dollar, as tourist revenues collapse due to escalating
terror attacks in Turkey, and Turkey continues to suffer from economic
stagnation of its main export markets in Europe, hit by European Union
(EU) austerity measures.
Above all, the Erdogan regime has been staggered by the failed coup
attempt of July 15, carried out by sections of the Turkish army backed
by Washington and Berlin. Arrests and dismissals of academics, police
and army officers have become routine. Since July 15, some 43,000 people
have been remanded in custody and 95,000 public employees from all
state institutions and universities have been dismissed.
Ankara’s relations with its NATO partners are on the verge of
collapse, as it develops ties with Moscow. Most significant was the
agreement reached between Ankara and Moscow on the war in Syria, which
excludes Turkey’s NATO partners, first of all the United States, in the
process. Russia and Turkey have initiated a new round of Syrian peace
talks in Kazakhstan, scheduled for January 23, and are moving to set
aside disputes over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.
The escalating dispute between Ankara and its NATO allies reflects
the highly advanced state of the breakdown of the post-World War II
order. A section of the Turkish ruling class, represented by Erdogan’s
AKP, is seeking a better position for itself through an open conflict
with its traditional allies in the EU and the Obama administration, by
deepening its relations with Russia and China.
As it moves further from NATO and the EU, the AKP appears to cherish
the hope that it will be able to work out more stable relations with the
incoming Trump administration—a hope that may well prove to be
illusory. Nonetheless, the AKP and the Turkish army are for now still
pressing on with ties to Russia.
On Wednesday, Turkish and Russian air forces carried out a common
operation against the Islamic State militia around al Bab, an
unprecedented event for a NATO member, since its foundation in 1949.
Following months of bluster and threats against the Obama government
and the European Union, mainly over Syria, their support to the failed
coup attempt and the PKK, Erdogan continued his anti-Western tirades,
this time over Turkey’s economic problems.
On Thursday, he blamed Ankara’s Western allies for the collapse of
the Turkish currency, which recently plunged to record lows against the
US dollar. “They try everything to slow the economy by troubling
suppliers and consumers. They take every chance to scare investors and
block investments. A lot of international institutions, notably the
European Union, make unfair accusations,” he said.
After the pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak accused
Germany’s Deutsche Bank of “economic terror” by recalling loans to
Turkish companies before their due dates, the bank’s Turkish unit issued
a statement stating that it was “unacceptable” for the paper to
associate the bank, Germany’s largest, with terrorism.
Source: WSWS
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