Parliament opening marks countdown to arduous task of gov’t formation

The new legislative term kicked off on Tuesday with an oath-taking ceremony, during which headscarved deputies also took oaths. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)

June 23, 2015, Tuesday/ 18:43:29/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ANKARA

The oath-taking ceremony of the deputies elected in the June 7 general election to serve as legislators marked the first session of the 25th Parliamentary term in Ankara on Tuesday; the occasion also launched the countdown for Parliament to forge a government in the absence of a single-party majority.

In a session expected to last 10 hours. Parliament convened under the chairmanship of its eldest deputy, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Antalya deputy Deniz Baykal.

Baykal is seen while delivering his opening speech. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Mustafa Kirazlı)

In the opening speech of Parliament, Baykal called on the parties to act in solidarity by upholding common values such as law, ethics and patriotism to fulfill Turkish citizens' expectations of reconciliation between different groups.

“Parliament has a pluralistic substructure to construct a new democracy. The conditions no longer allow for the continuation of the polarization [in society], which was the result of old conflicts, tensions and impositions. The fact that we have different ethnic, sectarian identities did not prevent us from convening under a common and single national and political identity, nor will it in the future,” said Baykal.

He underscored the need to ensure the judiciary's independence from politics, as well as the need to maintain the separation between politics and religion, by citing regional instability as the cause of the failure of neighboring countries to uphold secularism.

The AK Party's disabled deputy from Bursa, Bennur Karaburun, was the first to take the parliamentary oath after Baykal. (Photo: DHA)

After his speech, Baykal swore his parliamentary oath, followed by other deputies who took their oaths, in turn, according to the alphabetic order of the provinces they represent.

The six youngest deputies: Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Şanlıurfa deputy Dilek Öcalan, who is the niece of jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan; HDP Mardin deputy Enise Güneyli; HDP Van deputy Tuğba Hezer; Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Tokat deputy Fatma Gaye Güller; AK Party Antalya deputy Sena Nur Çelik and AK Party İstanbul deputy Abdürrahim Boynukalın assumed the role of temporary clerks.

The youngest deputies and Baykal laid flowers at the foot of a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk -- founder of the Turkish Republic -- in Parliament before the start of the first session.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been also present at the oath taking ceremony at Parliament. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Ali Ünal)

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also attended the ceremony. But his entry to Parliament was marked by the collective silent protest of all CHP, MHP and HDP deputies who, unlike their AK Party counterparts, chose to register their lack of respect for him by refusing to stand and applaud his entrance.

The seating arrangements in Parliament were reconfigured, as each party entered what is officially known as the Grand National Assembly of Turkey with a different number of deputies compared with its previous term. The former AK Party government took a much-reduced 258 seats, the CHP took 132, and the two other main opposition parties, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the HDP, each took 80 seats.

Parties to determine candidates for post of Parliament speaker

The oath-taking ceremony marked the start of the time period to elect a Parliament speaker. After a five-day application period for nominees, the first round of the election to choose the speaker of the house will commence on June 30.

In a meeting with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu before the start of Parliament's inauguration ceremony, Baykal conveyed his wish to be the CHP's candidate during the election for the post of Parliament speaker. Kılıçdaroğlu responded to his request by noting that he would decide on the issue after consulting with other CHP officials.

The HDP announced on Monday that its own candidate to be Parliament speaker is Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, while the other three parties in Parliament have not as yet announced their candidates.

All candidates for the post of Parliament speaker will be determined during a five-day recess. In the election to choose the speaker, the first two rounds of voting will see deputies casting their votes in a secret ballot.

For a candidate to get elected, two-thirds of the votes, corresponding to 367 deputies, are required. If neither of the candidates obtains two-thirds of the vote, a simple majority, or the support of 276 deputies, will be sought.

If the Parliament speaker cannot be selected in the third round of voting, then the candidate who receives the highest number of votes will be selected as speaker in the fourth round.

With the election of the new speaker, the AK Party -- which had the highest number of deputies elected to Parliament -- will be tasked by President Erdoğan with forming the 63rd government of the Turkish Republic.

The tasking of AK Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu to find a coalition partner to form the government will also launch the critical 45-day deadline during which a government must be formed.

If the AK Party fails to find a coalition partner, Erdoğan will task the CHP, the party with the second-highest number of deputies in Parliament, with forming the government.

Unlike the AK Party, which can form a government only with the support of one party, the CHP requires the support of both the MHP and the HDP to receive a high enough majority to warrant a vote of confidence for the formation of a new government.

If a government still can't be formed within 45 days of Davutoğlu being tasked, Erdoğan will announce a snap election after consultation with the Parliament speaker.

Parliament features more diverse representation

A total of 21 women deputies with headscarves, 18 of which are from the AK Party and three from the HDP, took their oaths to become legislators on Tuesday.

Merve Kavakçı, who was elected as a deputy with the Virtue Party (FP) in 1999, was the first headscarf-wearer to attempt to take up her position in Parliament. But her move drew harsh responses from Democratic Left Party (DSP) deputies who stood and shouted: “Get out, get out!”

Her headscarf led to Kavakçı being expelled from Parliament. The Cabinet even decided to withdraw her Turkish citizenship, gained through birth and race, after the incident.

On Tuesday, 17 years after that infamous moment, Merve Kavakçı's sister Ravza Kavakçı Han attempted to level that treatment by entering Parliament as an AK Party deputy in the new term. In her first entrance to Parliament, she wore the same headscarf her sister had worn in her oath-taking ceremony in 1999.

Minority groups including Armenians, the Roma community, Yazidis and Circassians also had the opportunity to send representatives to Parliament on Tuesday.

AK Party deputy Markar Esayan, HDP deputy Karabet Garo Paylan and CHP deputy Selina Doğan will represent Armenians, Turkey's most fragile minority group, in the new Parliament.

Özcan Purçu, elected as an İzmir deputy for the CHP, is the first-ever deputy to represent the Roma community, whose population is estimated to be between 500,000 and 750,000.

HDP deputy Feleknas Uca, who is a Yezidi, a religious minority in Iraq but one with an important extension in Turkey, will voice her community's problems in Parliament. The HDP asked Baykal, in his role as interim Parliament speaker, to display tolerance towards Uca for spelling her words incorrectly as she doesn't know the Turkish language.

Another important ethnic minority in Turkey is the Circassians, who are believed to number around three million of the Turkish population and will be represented by CHP deputy Murat Özçelik.

HDP deputy Leyla Zana took her oath in Parliament. (Photo: Today's Zaman, Ali Ünal)

Meanwhile, the nation was also wondering how HDP deputy Leyla Zana would swear her oath. At her oath-taking ceremony in 1990, she added a Kurdish sentence to her oath, dedicating her words to the brotherhood of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. This time, she took her oath wholly in Turkish.

Habib Güler contributed to this report

Keywords: Parliament , opening , government formation , Turkey news