Erdogan fully controlling Turkey’s parliament as it marks 100 years

Mahmud al-Batakoshi

The Turkish parliament has just celebrated its centenary.

However, this parliament has become powerless under incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party.

Erdogan uses the parliament only to implement the legislative agenda that services his personal interests and the interests of his party.

Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the parliament in 1920 during the independence war. It came to replace the House of Commons, the first parliament of the Ottoman state that opened its doors for the first time on March 19, 1877.

The Turkish parliament has been playing a central role in deciding relations between the Turkish presidency and military, especially since 2003, when the Justice and Development party came to power. It succeeded in reining in the control the military imposed on Turkey’s political life.

To do this, the parliament issued a large number of new legislation, primarily aiming at clipping the nails of the top brass and bringing them under Erdogan’s control.

The control Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party imposes on the Turkish parliament also means that there would be no opposition to the president inside the legislature.

Erdogan is also using this control in issuing a huge number of presidential fiats that were only backed by the parliament.

Controlling the judiciary

Following the presumed 2016, Erdogan staged a comprehensive cleansing of the Turkish political stage, in which he got rid of all his political opponents.

The judiciary always takes sides with the president, especially during disputes between the presidency and the parliament.

The Turkish president has the right to appoint half the members of the Constitutional Court which rules in disputes over legislation between the presidency and the parliament.

This atmosphere gave Erdogan the chance to issue a series of ill-reputed laws, including the nationwide emergency law.

The Turkish parliament also passed into law a new bill that allows for the release of tens of thousands of criminals from the jails, especially in the light of the coronavirus outbreak in Turkey.

The same law deprives political detainees and prisoners of the chance to get out of the jails.