Hürriyet Daily New published an article by Murat Yetkin headlined "Gül keeps pressing for a way out."
"Turkish President Abdullah Gül keeps pressing for a way out of the political crisis in the country despite the opposition’s refusal to keep cooperating on a constitutional change because government failed to withdraw a controversial draft to have more administration control over judiciary," the article reads.
"It seems the president had asked the prime minister to freeze the law change on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) during their weekly meeting on Jan. 16 and at least did not get “no” as an answer. Earlier that day, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said they would not go any further on constitutional talks, because Erdoğan keeps going on his plan for HSYK law. That is a reference to a meeting between Gül and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Jan. 13, after which Kılıçdaroğlu said his party was ready to work with Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) on two conditions. The conditions were the withdrawal of the HSYK draft and lifting blocks on free investigations into corruption allegations, as the whole crisis was triggered by a graft probe started on Dec. 17, 2013," the article reads.
"There are two reasons why Gül keeps pressing for an immediate way out of the crisis. The first is the extended row eroding the people’s already not so strong trust in courts and tends to politicize them further. The second is it attracts more criticism against Turkey from its U.S. and EU allies about the quality of democracy and economy here, since the independence and effectiveness of courts involve both. And Erdoğan is planning to go to Brussels on Jan. 21 for planned talks with top EU officials for the first time in five years," the author writes.
"If Gül’s optimism works, Turkey could really find a chance to enhance its problematic judicial branch with a constitutional change through this crisis. But the corruption probes, ongoing or blocked will still wait to be completed," Murat Yetkin concludes.
