At the Table of Six, Aksener to Kilicdaroglu: You started it, you fix it

Arti Gercek reports that at the Table of Six meeting held yesterday, a concrete decision was made regarding the government's headscarf proposal, which has been one of the most controversial items on the agenda. Contrary to the inclination of parties other than CHP to say "yes" to the measure so that the issue would not go to a referendum, the decision was made to draft a new headscarf proposal that would not include any of the family-related regulations. This shows that the tendency of the CHP staff to say "no" to the Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the CHP Central Administration Board, which convened the day before the Six-Table meeting, was met with a certain degree of acceptance at the Table of Six.

KILICDAROGLU COMMUNICATED THE “NO” STANCE OF HIS PARTY TO HIS PARTNERS

Although the decision to draft a new headscarf proposal was made by the Table, it was done after some objection during the meeting which lasted nine hours.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu conveyed the "no" stance, which had solidified during his party’s meeting yesterday, to his other partners at the table. The most important reason that the CHP says “no” is their belief that President Erdogan will use this issue as an election strategy and spread propaganda based on it. Kilicdaroglu, who communicated this opinion to the other five leaders, received support from Good Party Chairman Meral Aksener.

CONDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM AKSENER TO KILICDAROGLU

According to information obtained by Arti Gercek, Aksener stated that although there are different perspectives among her party, they support the CHP. In other words, the Good Party reached common ground with the CHP in saying no to the measure. At the reconciliation of the two most powerful parties of the Table, other parties agreed on their concerns even if they did not personally agree. At this point, the Felicity Party explained that though they had actually been inclined to say "yes" to the measure, they would accept a mutual stance after considering and accepting the explanations of the two parties. Moreover, in addition to the agreement reached, the Felicity Party suggested that the topic could be discussed in greater detail after the election.

According to information reflected behind the scenes, Aksener told Kilicdaroglu that she would stand by him, but that it was up to him to convince the other parties on the topic. Aksener stated that she was angry with Kilicdaroglu about the headscarf issue, but that she would not take an oppositional stance. To this end, she said, "You started this issue, you solve it.”

KILICDAROGLU CONVINCES THE OTHER PARTIES

CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu played a key role in the emergence of a common stance on the headscarf issue. Listening and responding to the concerns regarding the problem, the CHP leader enabled the emergence of a joint position from the Table after lengthy discussions.

In accordance with the decision that came out of the Table, the six parties will prepare a joint constitutional amendment draft. However, unlike the draft prepared by the government, the parties will only focus on the headscarf issue. In the headscarf constitutional amendment draft, in addition Article 24 of the Constitution, the government had included an additional regulation for the preservation of the family unit by adding the sentence “a family union is established between a man and a woman” to Article 41. The Table of Six, on the other hand, does not foresee any changes or additions regarding the family and will draft a proposal that focuses solely on the headscarf.

DRAFT TO BE BROUGHT TO PARLIAMENT IN FEBRUARY

The process of drafting a new constitutional amendment proposal on the headscarf issue, which has been agreed upon, will start after January 6. Another topic which has been the subject of curiosity is when this work will be brought to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. According to the information obtained, the parties have already begun their work. With the current pace, they anticipate submitting the draft to Parliament in February, shortly after the Introductory Meeting on January 30.