Amid rumors of a Turkish navy offensive in northern Syria, the Turkish parliament ratified as we speak a movement that extends the federal government’s mandate of finishing up cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria for one more two years.
In a shock transfer an hour earlier than the Common Meeting, the principle opposition Republican Individuals’s Occasion (CHP) introduced it might vote in opposition to the movement. The occasion, which has 135 deputies within the 583-seat parliament, had voted for the movement final yr, and lots of Ankara pundits thought it might accomplish that once more this yr.
CHP Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who spoke earlier than the parliamentary session, mentioned several factors — together with the request for a two-year mandate not like previous motions which might be restricted to 12 months — induced the change in his occasion’s place.
The movement’s time period of 24 months is basically attributed to the federal government’s need to not cross the mandate via parliament subsequent yr, when it will likely be centered on elections scheduled for June 2023, notably if it can name for snap elections.
Deputies of the ruling Justice and Growth Occasion (AKP) with 287 seats, and the AKP’s companion, the right-wing Nationalist Motion Occasion (MHP) with 48 seats, voted in favor of the movement. CHP ally IYI additionally voted in favor. Professional-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Occasion (HDP) and the Staff’ Occasion of Turkey, with 56 and 4 seats, respectively, voted in opposition to it. AKP-offshoot the Democracy and Progress Occasion (DEVA), which has a single member, refrained.
The movement refers to “continuously escalating” dangers and threats close to Turkey’s southern border, naming the Kurdistan Staff Occasion (PKK), the Individuals’s Safety Models (YPG), “the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]” and Islamic State as terrorist teams that proceed their actions in opposition to Turkey. Whereas the textual content largely resembles the final one handed in 2020, whose mandate runs out on Oct. 30, it mentioned this time that the YPG “continued to hold out terrorist actions in total Syria,” not simply at Turkey’s borders.
Kilicdaroglu mentioned his occasion additionally opposed the wording within the textual content that may authorize the federal government to invite foreign troops to Turkish territory — some extent that was echoed by CHP’s strategic companion, the IYI Occasion.
Calling the movement a “muddle,” Ahmet Kamil Erozan, the IYI Occasion’s deputy chair for worldwide relations and a former diplomat, mentioned the reference to the presence of international troops was unclear. “Who’re these international troopers that the president desires to ask?”
Ilhan Uzgel, a global relations scholar and the writer of “Turkey’s Neighbors,” agreed that endorsing the president with powers to ask international troops was problematic. “Who’re these international troops? Is it a reference to the Syrian National Army? Whether it is, it might be an unlimited mistake to legitimize this group via a parliamentary movement,” he advised Al-Monitor.
Whereas voting sure to the movement, the IYI Occasion warned the federal government in opposition to a navy offensive in Syria, notably as “an journey earlier than elections.”
“A brand new navy operation in Syria would serve no political aim. A secure zone in Syria wouldn’t resolve something; what you want is an total resolution in Syria, and that may solely be executed via dialogue with (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad,” Erozan mentioned. “Peace in Syria doesn’t merely cross via Washington and Moscow, however Damascus. We are going to vote for a sure out of consideration for the protection of our troops who’re already there, however our sure shouldn’t be interpreted as a help to the federal government’s Syrian coverage.”
The strongest opposition to the movement got here from the HDP, which lobbied fervently for a no vote among the many opposition, notably towards the CHP.
“Those that need a resolution to the Kurdish drawback in parliament ought to vote in opposition to this movement,” HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan mentioned, referring to Kilicdaroglu’s remarks in September that if a Kurdish drawback was to be solved, it must be executed with a legitimate body, which means the HDP ought to stay in parliament relatively than be banned.
Imam Tascier, HDP deputy from the primarily Kurdish southeastern metropolis of Diyarbakir, put it extra bluntly. “If the CHP votes for a yes, no Kurd ought to vote for CHP nor assume the CHP is any totally different than the AKP,” he tweeted.
Professional-government papers and pundits have attributed the CHP’s place to its plans to strike an alliance with the Kurdish events within the subsequent elections. Final month, the CHP visited the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in a bid to shed its anti-Kurdish picture within the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections.
Two days forward of the vote, 23 civil society teams known as on the members of parliament to vote against the bill. The associations, which principally encompass pro-Kurdish and Alevi teams, requested parliament to not yield their say over sending troops overseas to a single particular person — which means President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The movement comes within the wake of Ankara’s current however ambiguous hints at new cross-border military operations after two cops had been killed on Oct. 7. Erdogan mentioned at a Cupboard assembly in mid-October that Ankara was decided to remove threats to Turkey’s safety from northern Syria. He mentioned the assault by the YPG that killed two Turkish cops, which Ankara considers an extension of the outlawed PKK, had been the ultimate straw.
Erdogan, who hopes to satisfy US President Joe Biden this weekend, will now have the mandate in his pocket on the assembly. Reuters quoted an unnamed official who mentioned the Turkish president would speak along with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, after his talks with Biden.
