Latest Voices

Search This Blog

Turkey: You Say You Want a Constitution?

April 30, 2012 - 11:13am, by Yigal Schleifer

If there's one thing everyone in Turkey's deeply divided political scene can agree on, it's that the country desperately needs a new constitution to replace the current one, written in 1982 by the generals who led a coup two years earlier. Although that constitution has been amended several times, it remains a woefully inadequate and undemocratic document, one that is completely out of touch with Turkey's current realities. Here's how law professors Serap Yazici and Mustafa Erdogan describe it in a 2011 report they wrote for the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV):

The 1982 Constitution was not only anti-democratic in terms of the method it was made, it also did not fit the ideal of a democratic and pluralist-liberalist society in terms of its content. Indeed, with characteristics such as its official ideology, its hierarchical model that renders the society subject to the state, its unionist-uniformist structure that sees differences and diversity illegitimate and its sacrificing freedom for authority, the 1982 Constitution is far from the standards of today’s democracies, and goes against the structure and needs of the society in Turkey.

Still, despite the across-the-board understanding that constitutional reform is a must, the actual process of reform has been excruciatingly slow. Although the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power since 2002, has consistently promised to make the passing of a new constitution a priority, little has happened on that front save for a controversial 2010 referendum on a series of constitutional reforms that ultimately did little to change the document's essentially anti-democratic character.

Since then, relations between Turkey's already polarized political parties have become even more bitter, which made it seem unlikely that the constitutional reform process would get back on track. Somewhat surprisingly, though, it appears that the work of drafting of a new Turkish constitution is finally beginning, with all four parties in parliament getting ready to sit down and work out a new document together. Reports the Hurriyet Daily News:

Turkey’s Constitutional Reconciliation Commission will begin penning down the contents of the first civilian constitution starting tomorrow following a six-month-preparatory process on the charter.
The people’s expectations will be “decisive” in penning down the new constitution, Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek said April 28.

“The new constitution should reflect all colors, smells, motives, cultures and expectations of the citizens. This is the liability of the four parties and the Parliament as well. We are in debt to you and you are the claimant. You should be the pursuer of this debt,” Çiçek said on April 28 at the last meeting of the Turkey Speaks platform in Istanbul.

Before the commission begins penning the articles, Çiçek is expected to meet with prominent constitutional experts to discuss the methodology of writing the charter. This process is expected to take few weeks, sources said.

The new constitution will be drafted in Ankara in a parliamentary building. The commission will start with the articles that will be easier to agree on, while contentious issues will be referred to the party leaders, who will then try to reach a consensus. A very strict blackout will be implemented on the commission work in an effort to stop the leakage of the articles, which could ignite untimely discussion.
Each of the four parties represented in the Constitution Conciliation Commission will submit the names of two advisors, but will have a larger list of advisors that they can alternately consult with.

Meanwhile, in the last few months, the powerful Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) and its in-house think tank, the Economic Policy Research Foundation (TEPAV), have been leading an effort to do something previously unheard of in Turkey: to get the public's input on what their new constitution should look like. Since late last year, TOBB has held large meetings across Turkey where non-governmental organizations were invited to attend and give their input on what they would like to see in a new constitution. Encouragingly, Parliament Speaker Çiçek, who is overseeing the process, and other members of the constitutional commission attended all of these meetings.

Despite the cooperation in parliament and the effort to get Turkish civil society's input on a new constitution, some big questions remain about whether what's ultimately written will be a truly national project or one that reflects the priorities of the AKP, which has an overwhelming majority in parliament (although not one that's big enough to allow it to pass a new constitution unilaterally). It is widely believed that one of those priorities -- if not the main one -- is to to expand the powers of the president. This would allow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, according to the AKP's bylaws, must step down as party leader at the end of this parliament's term, to move over to the presidential palace while maintaining the level of power he enjoys today. The opposition parties do not support this change, since it would require making major adjustments to the current parliamentary system and would allow Erdogan to continue dominating the Turkish political scene for years to come.

Writing in his weekly newsletter, Istanbul-based analyst Attila Yesilada suggests that since Erdogan has promised the public that it will be allowed to vote on the new constitution through a referendum, the AKP, banking on its popularity among Turkish voters, might be tempted to forgo consensus in parliament and draft a document that fits its vision. Writes Yesilada:

PM Erdogan wishes to become the next President of Turkey and amend the Constitution to grant himself wide executive powers. He’ll try to bargain with the opposition and the Kurds to get what he wants, but we doubt these two entities will accept his terms. At the end, Turkey will be called upon to vote on a text written by AKP.

Latest Voices

Search This Blog

Turkey: You Say You Want a Constitution?

Latest from the Turko-file

Feedback

Editors' Picks

Regions

Blogs

EurasiaNet

E-Mail Subscriptions