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Mysterious Reform Package Disappoints Turks

The Turkish prime minister’s reform package has gotten mixed reactions.
Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-leader Gultan Kisanak listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in Ankara October 1, 2013. Turkey on Monday announced reforms seen as designed to salvage a peace process with Kurdish insurgents, including changes to the electoral system, broadening of language rights and permission for villages to to use their original Kurdish names. BDP said the proposals, presented by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, were not enough to satisfy Kurdish militants who

Turkey has been waiting a long time for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reveal his reform package. Its disclosure was postponed repeatedly because of the “detailed work” it required. Finally, Erdogan himself said he would reveal it on Monday, Sept. 30.

He also said that those who have been criticizing the package without seeing it would be embarrassed and that the package was full of surprises that no one would expect.

Naturally, with such remarks, the public's excitement swelled. But the contents of the much-speculated-on reform package were hidden behind a wall of secrecy. Apart from Erdogan and few others, no one among 76 million people in Turkey had the slightest clue what this package that concerns their fate was bringing.

Nothing was shared with the opposition parties or civil groups during the preparation of the package. Although the reform package was meant to advance democracy in Turkey and to increase the scope and number of democratic rights, its preparation was hardly democratic.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), generally referred to together as the “Kurdish political movement,” called attention to the methodology of its preparation and claimed that the package's contents were essentially empty. Noting that nothing was ever discussed with them during its preparation, they declared in advance that they had no expectations about the "rights to be granted to Kurds." A similar signal came from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who also said nothing was discussed with him. He distanced himself from the package while advising the Kurds to be "noncommittal."

Nevertheless, media organs controlled by the government carried out a masterfully crafted publicity campaign on the significance of the reform package. Keeping its contents secret contributed to a growing sense of suspense.” The reform package was designed to invoke a lottery with a huge prize.

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