So, it is said that Turkey will set sail to a democratic, free, just and humane life with human rights and the new constitution pack? AKP, the governing party that has ruled Turkey for the last 19 years, must be burning with a great desire for human rights that suddenly awakened within itself and initiated this by saying “Hey, how could we neglect this issue for all these years? Nobody even ever reminded us.” They immediately set up a team and came together on how to write and design the most perfect human rights project. Then, Mr. President's team immediately organized a press conference for this magnificent new human rights package and the announcement of the new constitution to herald historic march news. But, unlucky enough, they forgot to invite the columnists of oppositional newspapers! It really is a pity!
While Turkey was preparing for these happy days to come, horrific images that had nothing to do with human rights kept coming in one after another. Our courts, accustomed to grant murderers good conduct time just for wearing ties, and our police offices, making it a common practice sending every shelter and refuge seeking woman back to their homes with a kind but firm language, telling them "He is your husband, may he beat you or love you", probably facilitates this environment in some way that the speed and degree of brutality of femicide continues to increase exponentially!
What would the Istanbul Convention possibly be?
The government probably enthusiastically signed the “Istanbul Convention”, assuming this would be a preliminary birth certificate for the project “Canal Istanbul”[1] but then probably realized that this document was not that one! Thereupon, the ruling circles suddenly turned their backs on the Istanbul Convention! What a disappointment! Jokes aside, let's summarize if you're wondering why AKP men oppose the Istanbul Convention. First of all, the intense pressure of the sects and congregations came into play; "Really, this women’s protection issue does not fit the customs and traditions of the Turkish people" Finally, it is not easy granting police protection to women who were beaten up, is it? Then, LGBTI+ talking about different sexual orientations came to the agenda. The mob replied "It degenerates Turkish society. Have such things ever been seen in our ancestor’s surroundings?" Another issue is the danger of husbands being restrained from their wives per order! Probably because of their deep love, none of them could put up with this and rather chose to apply great pressure on the parliament: "We cannot stay separated from our spouses, please come off signing this damn convention!"
Interestingly enough, KADEM (The Association of Women and Democracy) led by Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan, both supported the Istanbul Convention on the day it came out, and I think they still supports it, but the result is certain! Therefore, that convention, which wanted to protect women with very clear law, could not be applied. “Prevent violence against women; If you cannot prevent it, protect women with domestic law, prevent threatening men from approaching women with electronic handcuffs, keep women alive, protect them with the contribution of 4-5 ministries and shape their future! " This is how Aylin Nazlıaka[2] summarizes the Istanbul Convention, which is disregarded by the AKP...
Glorious human rights records
What a coincidence that on March 4th, a week before the new era human rights declarations are presented, 180 members of the US Congress sent a letter to Turkey and while defining the course of the relationship with us, they demanded "the government should put emphasis on the human rights issues". Some may find the timing meaningful! Thus, our government is initiating a new so-called "democracy improvement" operation again, 11 years after the 2010 referendum and four years after the transition to the 2017 Presidential government system! But it remains a mystery why Sözcü TV's logo has not been granted for a year. Enis Berberoğlu[3] is being tried by 24 different judges in four years, and the judges who made decisions about him cannot be found in the courthouse the next day, they are dismissed by special decrees. Decisions to impose restrictions on official advertisements for weeks on the newspaper Cumhuriyet are not interrupted. Boğaziçi University students are struggling with situations such as the use of disproportionate force by the police while exercising their natural right to demonstrate and march and as if this was not enough, they are being labeled as terrorists. The decisions of the Constitutional Court on Osman Kavala[4] and Selahattin Demirtaş[5] are not implemented by the courts that have imposed the criminal sentences and the government! While journalist Levent Gültekin is beaten by medieval gangs in the middle of the street, in front of the channel Halk TV where he is working, the AKP and its alliance partner MHP are don’t seem to be very sad! On the one hand, the government says "We do not interfere in those affairs, the judiciary is independent" and on the other hand, they declare through the group deputy chairman Cahit Özkan in the parliament that the HDP will be closed, as if they are giving a directive to the Chief Public Prosecutor. We are number 154 among 180 countries in terms of freedom and democracy, but don't worry about it, we were able to slightly remain ahead of some countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and North Korea!
Well, what is the main reason!
The government does not generate healthy signals; it needs new scenarios to hold power. You know, the Presidential government system, which is said to revive our people in all respects, has probably passed away in four years, contrary to expectations, and now we are looking for the beauty of a new constitution that will replace the former one! However, Alev Coşkun, one of the few most valuable doyennes of our democracy and enlightenment, head of opposition daily Cumhuriyet and ex politician, proved with quotations that the theoretical constitution package, which was brought forward, fell behind even to the fundamental rights offered by the 1982 Constitution!
After all, when AKP realizes that it will lose the game, it wants to rewrite the rules of the game according to itself! Erdoğan, who does not have the right to be re-elected, gives the impression that he can even accept the return to the parliamentary regime to solve this situation, or he will say "The candidate who gained the highest number of votes in the first round shall be elected" that will eliminate the second round of the Presidential election...
The fact that this remaining version of the September 12 Constitution[6], of which the government changed the content maybe 40 times in the last 40 years, can still serve as an excuse for a new constitutional game, is just ridiculous, since the said version is full of changes from A to Z, blessed with the applause for every intervention made by Erdogan.
Those who try to set new rules at the last minute to the game that he seems to lose are called spoilsports! Unfortunately, I experienced this in the most severe ways back in 2003. Now, the country is trying to stop the vortex that the constitution has been drawn into, where this new human rights deception has literally turned the system into a scratch pad, whereas the constitution continues to lose its content integrity and qualities with these continuous rearrangements.
Curiosity: Who in the opposition wing will be fooled with these apple candies offered by the power structure and will be used during these operations without even realizing it!
Of course, we have an advantage. The 2nd Republicans[7] are now removed from circulation altogether and the "Not Enough but Yes" fraction who followed them, hid under the tables. Therefore, the conductors of deceit of the society are now interrupted. I hope they will not be replaced by naive, so-called well-intentioned politicians!
[1] (A fantasy project put forward by Erdoğan which would create an alternative to the Bosphorus by physically altering the North outskirts of Istanbul by opening a sea channel that would turn into the Paradise of Qatar investors, and to the detriment of ecologists, a project severely refused by the opposition member Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu)
[2] (Women’s Department President of main opposition Party CHP)
[3] Parliament member of CHP who was stripped out of his functions and remained in prison for 16 months
[4] Businessman who has been in jail for over 3 years, accused of initiating the Gezi Protests
[5] President of HDP who has been in prison for about 3 years
[6] Following the Coup d’Etat of 1980
[7] Some media group whose members have vehemently opposed Atatürk’s era’s reforms while leading a secular free life style, staying as close allies of the so called “soft-islamists