CHP shoots itself in the foot in charter panel with Baykal's gun

The ghost of its former leader is chasing the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), raising the unfortunate possibility of taking the party back to its old methods of non-policy politics.

One day after former CHP leader Deniz Baykal severely criticized the party and its leadership, CHP members in a four-party commission in parliament tasked with preparing a new constitution withdrew from the panel on Feb. 16, citing the imposition of a presidential system.

It has been no secret for the last couple of years that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and especially President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, want the current parliamentary system replaced with a presidential one, something that would give the country's president vast executive powers. Erdo?an and AKP executives have been promoting the "benefits" of such a systemic change, and a new constitution based on a presidential system was among the AKP's election promises in the Nov. 1, 2015 polls, in which it won the majority in parliament.

In such situation, it was obvious that the AKP would bring the presidential system to the panel tasked with drafting a new constitution, which consisted of three members each from the AKP, the CHP, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

And when it did, the CHP, as if it was seeking an excuse, abandoned the talks.

Although the opposition parties blamed the AKP for the failure of the panel, CHP deputy leader Bülent Tezcan's remarks painted a somewhat different picture.

"We won't be a part of a plan already underway," said Tezcan, who was also one of the members of the panel. 

"We cannot be part of a commission that is just a side activity of the presidential system...