Türkiye needs a first-rate constitution that will complete its first-rate democracy, economy and freedoms, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday as he reiterated his vow to liberate the fundamental laws from coup-era military tutelage ideology.
“With the opening of Parliament, we will restart our initiative to bring a new constitution to Turkish democracy, which has been our dream since 2011,” Erdoğan told a ceremony in Ankara for the opening of the new legal term.
Erdoğan stressed that such a new document was “critical” for all 85 million Turkish citizens to “embrace as their own” and urged Türkiye’s lawmakers, political parties, high courts, universities, government institutions and many bars to contribute to the process.
“This new constitution will bolster the Century of Türkiye and be worthy of it,” he added.
Erdoğan has been touting the Century of Türkiye vision since last year. The vision encapsulates an ambitious set of political, economic, social and cultural innovations and developments his government aims to accomplish to celebrate Türkiye’s centenary as a republic.
“The state of law is our red line. It’s our duty to increase trust in the judiciary and prevent public reprehension,” he also said.
Since its founding, the modern Turkish state has been governed under four constitutions, with the first one being adopted in 1921, changing in 1924 and 1961 before the Constitution of 1982 was implemented. The bloody 1980 coup, which led to the detention of hundreds of thousands of people along with mass trials, torture and executions, still represents a dark period in Turkish political history.
The 1982 document has since overseen many key amendments and been modified to keep up with global and regional geopolitical conjectures. The most recent changes were introduced following the 2017 referendum, including the transition from the parliamentary to the presidential system.
The debate on crafting a new constitution has become more prominent after Türkiye reelected incumbent President Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in last May’s landmark elections.
His government has attempted a constitutional overhaul in the past, notably in the early 2010s when it employed a professor of constitutional law to draft a new document but it was shelved by political disagreements.
Erdoğan has since promised to replace the current Constitution in favor of a “civilian, libertarian and inclusive constitution” when the opportunity arises. His governing AK Party has proposed changes that focus on the topics of freedom, the right to security, the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech as well as the rights of women and the disabled.
The enhancement of these rights and liberties has seen setbacks in the bureaucracy that have prevented them from being implemented properly.
The party has said it has a plan ready in accordance with the observations and reports of the international mechanisms that monitor human rights in cooperation with several human rights groups.
Erdoğan has also been calling on political parties to create the necessary constitutional regulations to protect the legal framework surrounding women's freedom to wear a headscarf.
In January, Parliament’s constitutional committee ratified the amendment that guarantees the constitutional right to wear the headscarf and redefines marriage in more concrete terms, paving the way for the amendment to land in Parliament.
The new parliamentary agenda is likely to include Erdoğan’s proposal and the headscarf amendment once it opens in October.
