Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Monday received Murat Bakan, shadow interior minister of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The meeting follows recent talks between the opposition’s top officials with ministers and comes one day before a scheduled gathering of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP Chair Özgür Özel on Tuesday.
Yerlikaya did not comment on the meeting while Bakan, who also serves as deputy chair of the CHP, told reporters that they appreciated the "sincere meeting." Bakan said they made several proposals for the solution of several issues. "We are in a new era. What happened in the past was a mistake. Everyone adhered to their own political ideas in handling the country’s problems. We must come together to solve the problems," he said.
Bakan also said talks can help resolve many issues. "The two countries may engage in a war but the government and the opposition should not be at war. These talks are not an obstacle for us to continue our function as opposition," he said. Bakan declined to comment on the issues they discussed with Yerlikaya.
The "normalization" process between the government and the opposition, which started with the landmark meeting of Erdoğan and Özel following the March 31 municipal elections, moves forward with more meetings.
The shadow Cabinet of the CHP held its first meeting with Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki. Özhaseki received the CHP’s deputy chair in charge of local administration Gökan Zeybek and two CHP lawmakers. Separately, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan received the CHP’s shadow Foreign Minister Ilhan Uzgel, who requested the minister inform his party more about the government’s foreign policy and the minister’s diplomatic visits abroad.
The CHP’s shadow ministers are expected to meet other ministers in the coming days.
Erdoğan’s meeting with Özel was a milestone in Turkish politics as the two politicians, often at odds, formally came together for the first time since Özel replaced Erdoğan’s bitter rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as head of Türkiye’s oldest party. The meeting, held in a warm atmosphere, was the product of what Erdoğan called a "softening" approach in Turkish politics, where the CHP outdid the AK Party in several strongholds of the latter.
The president is scheduled to visit CHP headquarters on Tuesday, the first time since 2006. Erdoğan was prime minister back then when he visited the CHP’s new headquarters. The growing rift between the CHP and the AK Party, however, minimized the communication. The two sides were engaged in lengthy court battles over a string of issues over the years. Özel, who focused his campaign against Kılıçdaroğlu on the promise of "change" in the CHP, a chronic loser to the AK Party for more than two decades, turned his party’s fortunes around within months.
Erdoğan will be accompanied by AK Party Deputy Chairperson Mustafa Elitaş, while CHP lawmaker Namık Tan, a former ambassador, will accompany Özel at the meeting.
Sabah newspaper reported that the main topic of the meeting will be the new constitution. The government has been pushing to overhaul Tükiye’s Constitution for over a decade now, which was enforced in 1982 following a military coup that led to the detention of hundreds of thousands of people along with mass trials, torture and executions, which still represents a dark period in Turkish political history.
The opposition has been reluctant and, at times, outright hostile to the attempts to create a new constitution. Their reasons are mostly political and they oppose a constitution to be "imposed" upon them by the government, despite Erdoğan’s repeated remarks that they want to consult with other parties before starting the work.
The document has undergone nearly 20 amendments over the years to keep up with global and regional geopolitical conjectures. The most notable changes were introduced via referendums in 2010 by enabling the trialing of the 1980 coup plotters in civil courts and in 2017 by replacing the parliamentary system with an executive presidency.
In 2007, the AK Party attempted an overhaul when it employed a commission to produce a draft, which was shelved upon heated criticism from the opposition. Since then, the party has been working on "stronger" material. Its proposed changes focus on freedom, the right to security, the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech and the rights of women and the disabled.
Erdoğan himself discussed the issue with Özel in their first formal meeting. At least 400 lawmakers must ratify a new constitution draft in Parliament. Anything over 360 votes would allow a referendum, allowing the people to decide.
Sabah newspaper reported that Özel would discuss several issues with Erdoğan, from an investigation into organized crime boss Ayhan Bora Kaplan, verdicts on "Kobani riots," appointment of a trustee at the municipality of Hakkari and a trial into the killing of Sinan Ateş, former head of a nationalist association. Özel would also present the CHP’s views and solutions to problems the Turkish economy faced.