Targeting CHP deposits

#Turkey
#Republican People's Party
#Justice and Development Party

On Thursday, May 14, 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan requested expediting the legal work to transfer the shares of the Republican People's Party, the largest of opposition parties, in the Turkish "Iş Bankası" Bank to the state treasury, so that the transfer process will be completed within ten days.

The value of these shares is 28.9% of the bank's total assets . It had inherited these shares from the founder of the republic and the party, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, under a will that he left before his death in 1938. Although the will stipulates that the profits be allocated to the benefit of the compilers of the Turkish language and Turkish history.

Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party consider these shares as illegal gain that violates the laws of the Turkish Constitution on parties, which prohibit them from practicing trade directly or indirectly, as well as the law on party financing in illegal ways. The Republican peoples party ; however, considers the demand to transfer their shares illegal ; and that a will is a personal right and no law can be passed to undermine it.

This is not the first time that Erdogan or the ruling Justice and Development party has demanded that these shares be transferred to the state treasury, nor is it the first time that these shares have been targeted. During the era of President Adnan Menderes, who headed the Democratic Party, and who took over the reins of power in the fifties of the last century, he ordered in 1953 a transfer of the ownership of the bank to the state treasury so that it would be the supervisor of the conduct of its affairs. Menderes then considered that, when Ataturk left the shares to the Republican peoples party, it happened at a time when the party was the state, and there was no other party in Turkey. Now that there is a plurality of parties, it is the state that should look into the matter but not a single party.

General Canaan Evren, who carried out the famous 1980 coup in Turkey, was among those who raised this issue. At that time he abolished the institutions of the Turkish Language and Turkish History Complex, and transferred the shares of the Republican people party in İş Bank to the state treasury. Three years later ; however, those shares to their previous status.

In November 2018, the AKP spokesperson, Omer Celik, began to reopen the case and demanded that state institutions supervise these shares belonging to Ataturk, as they are of a common value to all the people. He stressed that no party should engage in trade in any form. Meanwhile, Erdogan called for this and even hinted at the support of the National Movement for this demand ; and that he would help pass this law in Parliament. Indeed, the leader of the National Movement, Devlet Bahceli, expressed his party's readiness to support any legal proposal in this regard. His position yesterday is no different from his position today.

The Republican people’s shares in İş Bank représenté a large part of its budget, in addition to the fact that the transfer of ownership of these shares from the party to the state will represent a real crisis between the two parties at the political and popular levels ; because many party supporters view it as an insult to the will of Atatürk and his moral and material legacy.

First: background of the stocks

The Turkish newspaper "Sozcu", which is close to the Republican Peoples Party, says that the party shares inherited from Ataturk under the latter's will, were originally financial aid that the Muslims of India sent to Ataturk personally during the war of independence that the Ottoman Empire was had on more than one front.

The total sum sent was 675474 tl. Part of it was actually used for the war by Ataturk, and half of it remained after the founding of the republic in 1923. And as the Caliphate according to which the Muslims of India sent those funds came to an end , Ataturk waited in anticipation of the Indian Muslims asking for their aid money. But when that had not happened, Ataturk thought of using those funds for the benefit of the new Turkey. He spent part of it for agriculture and agricultural institutions, a section for the Ministry of Defense, and another for professional institutions and sectors. 250 thousand liras remained, and they were used to establish the Turkish “Is Bank”.

The same newspaper quotes historians as saying that, when Ataturk died, he had accounts and shares in İş Bank totaling 1,446,872 Turkish liras, including Ataturk’s personal funds and what was left of the Indian Muslim aid, in addition to an amount donated by Abbas Hilmi Pasha for the benefit of the republican people. According to Atatürk’s will, this money and its annual returns which is now equivalent to 28.9% of the bank’s shares, should be made in full, to the benefit of the Republican People’s Party, which was ruling Turkey alone at the time ; and which is now the main opposition against the Justice and Development party, provided that the profits of those shares be allocated to the benefit of the Turkish Language and History Institutions Turkey. In the end ; however, these shares and what follows are actually at the disposal of the republican people.

This issue has been raised repeatedly in the Turkish political community. Those who have raised it relied on the idea of ​​violating the laws of party financing and the illegality of direct or indirect trading with such assets. They say that the state is the first to take charge of these shares.

This issue was raised in mid-2018 after the presidential elections, when the Turkish lira was subjected to a major crisis. For the first time in August 2018, it exceeded the ceiling of 4 liras to the dollar to reach more than 7 liras. The returns that the People's Party obtains from the interests of these shares are estimated at billions of liras, but the party denies obtaining any of the profits achieved by these shares. The party says that it allocates them to the benefit of the Turkish Language and History Complex, according to Ataturk's will. However, looking at the skirmishes that have long taken place between the party and the two institutions - against the background of what they say concerning the party's lack of commettent to transfer all profits to their favour, it turns out that there is a gap in the process of disposing of profits. No other party has deposits or similar financial shares. This is simply contrary to what is stipulated in the Turkish Constitution

Second: How will the shares be nationalized?

The Justice and Development party and its ally the Nationalist Movement party stress that Articles 67 and 69 of the Party Laws of the Turkish Constitution stipulate that no political party should be involved in any commercial activity. According to Turkish analysts, the AKP is preparing to amend this law by adding a new paragraph stipulating that "the transfer of political party shares to the state treasury if it manipulates these funds."

According to a report prepared by the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak on May 14, the Justice and Development party is discussing the preparations for the legal regulations that would legislate this step, which the Ministry of Finance cannot decide on. According to the newspaper, the Justice and Development is in the process of introducing an amendment to Article 67 of the Parties Law, which states Prohibiting the practice of trade on political parties, to add a new paragraph to it that states: “The transfer of the shares of the political party, if it is manipulated by a political party , to the state treasury.

Third: The impact of nationalization on the political scene :

The Republican peoples party underestimates the importance of the Justice and Development party move in this regard, and considers it contrary to the law, and stresses that it does not receive anything from the dividends, but is merely an observer and custodian of Ataturk’s will. The Republican peoples party just assignes four persons on its behalf on the board of the ş Bankası.

At the political scene, there will be a heated debate among citizens on the basis of ideological background, as this issue is seen by some as a violation of Atatürk's will and will.

The nationalization of shares will cause the Republican Peoples’ Party to lose an essential part of its financial resources, which will have an impact on the party's ability to move politically in the coming period.

The reactions of the Republican peoples party parliamentarians and party officials are centered on the fact that the issue is illegal ; and that the AKP wants to put its hands on Atatürk's shares in İş Bank in order to get out of the predicament of his obvious economic crisis in the country.

The Republican people are also trying to turn the issue in their favour by considering the Justice and Development party to have left all the crises that the country is suffering from, including inflation, unemployment and the Corona crisis ; and focusing their efforts on Ataturk's shares.