Debate rumbles on over north ‘parliament speaker’ election

The debate over the controversial ‘parliament speaker’ election in the north is continuing into the weekend, with high profile figures continuing to weigh in on the matter.

‘Deputy speaker’ Fazilet Ozdenefe, who belongs to opposition party the CTP, warned that if Zorlu Tore is allowed to become ‘speaker’ after declaring himself so off the back of a vote in which he received 23 votes in favour and 25 against, there could be negative consequences for the north.

Speaking to the north’s public broadcaster BRT, she said, “the country will be dragged into chaos if we conclude that 23 is greater than 25.”

She also said that while the ‘auditor-general’s’ opinion should be sought and is “important”, it is not “the final say on this matter.”

“That opinion will be evaluated in parliament,” she said, before adding that an early ‘parliamentary’ election is “inevitable”.

Tore himself also spoke to BRT, denying accusations that he had scribbled over the word “lost” on ‘parliament’s’ official record paper.

He said he had in fact “written my own opinion” on the document and added that he had then “spoken with many lawyers”.

“I spoke with constitutional professors from Turkey. They say I won the election with 23 votes,” he said, before adding that the opinions expressed by the north’s ‘law department’ and ‘auditor general’ are “very important”.

“I am parliament speaker until 10.30 on Monday morning. Therefore, we do not have an agenda on Monday. Therefore, it is out of the question for MPs to come to work on Monday, because we did not ask them to. We closed the session, there is no agenda,” he said.

He then added that the ‘law department’ had been sent all the relevant material from Thursday’s session, and that they would evaluate everything in due course.

“It will be a decision which requires time, but it will not take weeks. I think it will be concluded next week,” he said.

Asked what would happen if the ‘attorney-general’ decides he is not the speaker, he said the ruling party the UBP will “find a new candidate and speaker elections will start from there and continue again.”

This opinion was not shared by former ‘prime minister’ Ferdi Sabit Soyer, who while speaking to television channel Kanal Sim rejected the idea that someone can become ‘parliament speaker’ after receiving more “no” votes than “yes” votes in an election.

“[‘Transport minister’ Erhan] Arikli said something. He said even if a candidate gets one vote, they are elected as speaker. Let me ask you this, are the ‘yes’ votes votes, but the ‘no’ votes are buckthorns? What kind of nonsense is this?

“In a vote, ‘no’ votes are as valuable as ‘yes’ votes, and if the ‘no’ votes are in the majority, it means you are rejected. If he gets one vote, he is elected, so, if he gets 49 ‘no’ votes, will he still be elected? A ‘yes’ is a vote but a ‘no’ is koliva? No, votes are votes … This interpretation is unacceptable.”