War Trumps Politics: Judicial Reform Bill Fails to Inspire Hope Amid Syria Offensive
As the whole Turkey marches on a war footing, the political debate has entirely been consumed by the military operation in northern Syria, trumping all other topics of vital importance. One important victim of this state of war is a long-anticipated judicial reform whose trimmed version is now getting a hearing in Turkey’s Parliament. But all attention is elsewhere, in northern Syria, where the Turkish troops make steady advances against SDF in a quest to crush the Kurdish militia’s sway across the southern side of the Turkish-Syrian border. As war trumpets fill the air, all other voices of reason and common sense lose their traction and compass.
While the all-consuming aspect of the war keeps attention away from the debates in the legislative body, some opposition lawmakers tried their best to make a compelling case for restoring rights for people who lost their jobs during the emergency rule.
Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a lawmaker from pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP), offered a long list of rights abuses committed by the government against its own citizens since the first declaration of the state of emergency in 2016. Futile though the attempt may seem, he nevertheless sought to channel the gravity of attention to the legislative bill to redress KHK people’s dismal…
