Reverse psychology can be a
wonderful thing. Just at Turkey's prime minister again cast doubt on his
country ever having a new, cross-party constitution, the commission charged
with writing that document appears to have accelerated its work.
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| Ahmet Türk |
It was on Sunday that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters
following him on his trip in the United States that he was "losing
hope" over the constitution-writing process. He continued:
"If there is no solution, we will follow our Plan C and use
our own [draft constitution] template. We have 326 MPs and, as you know, it
will be a secret ballot, so perhaps a few brave souls will emerge despite their
own party's pressure. If we can get the numbers, we will take it to a
referendum."
The said parliamentary commission
is made up of twelve MPs, three each from the governing AK Party and opposition
Republican People's (CHP), Nationalist Movement (MHP) and Peace and Democracy
(BDP) parties, and chaired by the speaker, AK Party MP Cemil Çiçek.
The prime minister’s Plan C refers to oft-repeated AK Party
threats to team up with the pro-Kurdish BDP and other opposition rebels to
reach the magic 367 number, a two-thirds seat majority, which would allow the
government to change the constitution unilaterally.
