Turkish experts optimistic for Constitution Conciliation Commission
by Merve Aydoğan
ANKARAFeb 04, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Merve Aydoğan
Feb 04, 2016 12:00 am
As Parliament's Constitution Conciliation Commission prepares to hold its first meeting on Thursday, the Ankara-based Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) organized a panel on Tuesday titled "The new constitution in light of the Conciliation Commission experience," where the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy member of the Constitution Conciliation Commission, Ahmet İyimaya, said: "The necessity for a new constitution is nearly an ontological need." In addition to İyimaya, Council of Higher Education (YÖK) Deputy Chairman Yavuz Atar, who is also a scholarly advisor to the Constitution Conciliation Commission, drew attention to problems related to the structure and functionality of the commission, explaining that "it is unlikely that any results will result from the current commission as it is established on the same problems [as the previous one]." Providing comprehensive details on experience gained from previous constitutional talks, Taylan Barın, a research assistant at Yıldırım Beyazıt University Faculty of Law, said that the previous experience from the earlier iteration of the Constitution Conciliation Commission is significant for creating judicial memory.
Prefacing that there is no other example in history of a nation that did not take on an active role in establishing the country's constitution, İyimaya said that the current Constitution was established by certain powers. He also said that the necessity for a new constitution is due to three issues. The first of is the representation of the people in the constitution-making process. Secondly, the current Constitution's fundamental character is based on guaranteeing power for those in power, establishing norms to implement the practices of the coup period in the present. İyimaya said: "The current Constitution also lost the originality it contained during the coup period and has since turned into a prosthetic constitution."İyimaya, a constitutional expert, also said that partially changing the Constitution will not solve the problems and that the current Constitution must be repealed and a new one must be put into effect. Echoing the views of other panelists, İyimaya also said that the Constitution Conciliation Committee is highly significant as it has provided important acquisitions to the conciliation of Turkey's political culture. He said: "It is important for the new constitution to address the three fundamental issues of the unspoken legislative crisis, the structuring dynamics that move the functions of the constitution away from the judiciary and justice institutions, which are to be used as a reference, and the concept of a governing system."
Later, Atar from YÖK underlined the significance of the Constitution Conciliation Committee: "For the first time in Turkey, political parties with high representation percentages came together to establish a constitution." He continued to emphasize that although he is not hopeful that the commission's talks will be successful, he is focused on the importance of the people of Turkey being included throughout the process, calling it a very critical point.
Barın said the previous commission's failure must not be interpreted as a reflection of the AK Party's desire to switch to a presidential system, as it was not an issue then. Barın said: "The fundamental reasoning behind the previous commission's inability to reach a conclusion despite the lengthy hours spent in discussions was because the talks were allowed to expire." He said that he is hopeful regarding the current talks establishing a new constitution with the new commission.
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