Erdogan calls for unity as parliament begins new legislative year
As Turkey’s Grand National Assembly convenes, lawmakers and pundits are buzzing about shifting political alliances, new parties and even the possibility of early elections.
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a conciliatory tone at the opening of the new legislative year on Tuesday, inviting parliament’s bitterly polarized members to work together to lift the country’s democratic standards.
But signs of the deep divisions among parties were apparent from the outset, when lawmakers from the two largest opposition groupings did not stand and applaud Erdogan’s entrance, and the president signaled that the parliament’s pro-Kurdish party may be unwelcome in his new drive for unity.
“Let us not put our political rivalries ahead of our responsibility to our people,” Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live. “I believe that anyone who doesn’t say, ‘My nation first,’ does not have the right to sit beneath the roof of this sacred institution. I invite all circles who distance themselves from terrorism and violence to meet on common ground.”
The last sentence may have been aimed at the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which supports a negotiated resolution of the three-decade insurgency waged by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Erdogan has sought to depict the HDP as the rebel group's political wing, which the party refutes.
