Parliament is currently discussing lifting the political immunities of some deputies from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who are alleged to have systematically abetted terrorism.
This proposal, which has been supported by the other opposition parties in Parliament along with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), was approved in the Constitutional Commission. Now it is time to vote in the Parliamentary Counsel.
How did we end up in this process?
According to the claims of the HDP, the legal wing of the outlawed PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and EU, it is an attempt to block political channels.
However, the HDP, which has 60 deputies in Parliament and whose regional affiliate Democratic Regions Party (DBP) runs about 100 local administrations, cannot persuade society or Parliament to believe this conspiracy theory.
The electorate has witnessed that the HDP evaluated Ankara's approach as impotent while Ankara got close to a political resolution for the first time in Turkey's history. So far, the HDP, which got used to discharging other Kurdish groups with the comfort of the PKK's armed threats, therefore resigned itself to political mediocrity and has not kept any distance from violence.
Of course, there are countless other factors.
Some HDP deputies appeared at the funeral ceremonies of the perpetrators of suicide bombings in Ankara, which killed many civilians, and explicitly praised the attackers during the ceremonies.
Ammunition was seized in some deputies' cars.
It was revealed that the salaries of the workers at some DBP municipalities were cut in order to provide weapons aid to the PKK.
Some explosives and bomb-making equipment were seized at party offices.
In which part of the world does a legal party have such a broad realm that includes making armed propaganda?
Even Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned and still unquestionable leader of the PKK and HDP, accuses the party administration of surrendering to the armed wing and being unable to produce civilian politics.
When such a picture is prevalent, what can be more natural for the Turkish state and Parliament, which suffers from many casualties as a result of daily PKK attacks, than initiating a legal procedure to take some measures against violence?
The public is clear about the answer to this question. All public surveys show that an overwhelming majority of the electorate approves this reflex by Parliament.
However, European and U.S. media do not give any credit to Turkey for that even though Turkey is the only country in the region with the ability to establish its government through free and fair elections watched by the entire world. The concern of providing national security and protecting civilian politics, which is seen as a natural right and unavoidable duty for Western states, is regarded as a luxury when it comes to Turkey.
Nevertheless, becoming party to all international agreements and exerting its utmost efforts for full integration into the EU, the government has self-confidence that allows it not to condone some poor and so-called political interventions implemented by terrorism.
My only advice to my Western colleagues is that they should put aside their whips that remain from the colonial period while criticizing Turkish politics if they still respect journalism, civil politics and democracy and if they do not want the blockage of dialogue channels of millions of Turkish-origin people living in Europe with their homeland.
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