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ANKARA – The Turkish Parliament on Monday voted Cemil Çiçek, from the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party), as its new speaker amidst a crisis sparked by two opposition parties' refusals to participate in the swearing in of the newly formed Parliament, Todays Zaman reported.

Çiçek received 302 votes in the first round voting, while Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) parliamentarian Tunca Toskay received 50 votes. The AK Party's second candidate, Zelkif Kazdal, received 23 votes and withdrew his nomination in the first round. Çiçek went on to win 322 votes and Tunca Toskay won 52 in the second round of voting. Çiçek was elected as the new speaker with 322 votes in the third round, in which Toskay received 50 votes. Three votes were declared invalid.In his speech after his election, Çiçek appealed to the opposition parties currently boycotting Parliament to take their oaths. "Parliament should be a place of work, not of conflict. We have many issues to solve. We can't afford to waste any time," Çiçek said.

He said the country’s most pressing problems were the need for a new and more democratic constitution, and addressing the Kurdish question. He also listed Turkey’s EU membership, talks for which have currently stalled, and the Cyprus issue among high priority topics for Turkey.

Last Tuesday, swearing-in of the new Parliament attended was marred by a boycott by the pro-Kurdish bloc and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in protest of the disqualification of their deputies by courts and the Supreme Election Board (YSK). Some 30 independent deputies backed by the BDP, did not attend the ceremony to protest a YSK decision to strip an elected politician, Hatip Dicle, of his parliamentary status due to a past conviction for spreading terrorist propaganda, and subsequent court rulings against the release of Dicle and five other deputies, who are jailed suspects in a separate terror-related case.

Members of the CHP, whose two deputies are behind bars as suspects in the Ergenekon case, did come to Parliament but refused to stand up and walk up to the rostrum to take their oaths. "We will not take the oath unless the way is open for all our deputies to take the oath," state CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, just less than an hour before Parliament convened for the ceremony.

The oath crisis is a first in Turkish political history. Çiçek summarized the vote for the new parliament speaker saying, "It felts as if we were having a funeral on a festival day."

Monday started in a tense atmosphere, with many deputies fearing that a second crisis might be in store. The AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) announced that they wouldn’t allow the CHP deputies to enter the general assembly hall without them first taking their oaths.

The AK Party’s Burhan Kuzu, who was the head of the Parliamentary Constitutional Commission in the previous term, said any deputy who refused to take their oath could only have observer status in the hall. "It is legally very clear that they can’t participate in legislative activities without first being sworn in. If they insist on attending the general assembly session, they will be making a big mistake," said Kuzu, who is a constitutional law professor.

The CHP deputies did attend Parliament, with one, CHP’s Tunceli deputy Kamer Genç, angrily reacting to the temporary parliament speaker and the oldest member in Parliament, CHP’s Oktay Ekşi, for not calling the CHP deputies to vote. Genç said he should have been called to participate in the vote, while the AK Party’s parliamentary group deputy leader Nurettin Canikli criticized Ekşi for allowing Genç to speak. "Article 81 of the Constitution is very clear. Deputies who don’t take the oath cannot talk or vote in a general assembly session," Canikli said.

Ekşi, who chaired Monday’s session, called for deputies who might want to take the oath. AK Party Antalya deputy Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who had failed to attend the previous week’s ceremony, took the oath. Ekşi then accepted the resignation of the previous term’s cabinet and assigned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the task of forming the new government. After this, he commenced the first round of the voting for the position of parliamentary speaker.

Kılıçdaroğlu and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli also attended Monday’s session. The prime minister arrived in Parliament later than these two leaders and took his seat between former Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin and the AK Party’s parliament speaker candidate, Cemil Çiçek, during the vote.

The names of the CHP deputies who refused to take the oath weren’t called during the vote, but İstanbul independent Sırrı Süreyya Önder’s name was accidentally called. Önder, elected as an independent endorsed by the BDP, also refused to take the oath in line with the BDP’s decision.

Bahçeli criticizes CHP, BDP protest

In strong remarks critical of the CHP and BDP on Monday, Bahçeli said the parliamentary boycott has gone down as a black stain on the history of Turkish democracy.

Bahçeli spoke during his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Monday prior to the vote for a parliament speaker and commented on the recent oath impasse in Parliament. He accused the CHP, the BDP and the AK Party of causing the crisis.

The MHP also has a deputy in prison -- retired Gen. Engin Alan, a suspect in the investigation of an alleged coup plot dubbed Sledgehammer -- but its deputies participated in the swearing-in ceremony. Bahçeli said the incorrect decisions by the YSK also had a share in the current crisis, but accused the BDP of disregarding the necessary qualifications for a deputy candidate in Dicle’s case.

Bahçeli called on all parties to attend Parliament and seek a solution to the issue in Parliament. He also accused the prime minister of failing to give the response that the boycotting parties deserve. "Why is the prime minister so silent in the face of such rebellion?" he asked.

Erdoğan earlier rebuffed the boycott and said whether the opposition comes to Parliament or not, there is no legal obstacle preventing Parliament from functioning. Bahçeli was not the only one critical of the boycott. Head of the Social Democracy Association (SDD) Erol Tuncer said the CHP was responsible for not only failing to produce a viable solution to the impasse, but also turning it into a major crisis. "The party administration has taken a wrong decision. The CHP should have taken the oath. Both the party and the country are now suffering because of this decision made on the spur of the moment."

However, a recent statement from the prime minister might make it more difficult for the CHP to back up on its decision. "They will have to take this back," Erdoğan said, leaving little room for the CHP to save face in the event of its changing its mind about the boycott.