Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş is set to receive representatives of smaller political parties without parliamentary groups this week to discuss a new constitution for Türkiye, a topic that picked up momentum after last year’s general elections.
Kurtulmuş will listen to the views of these party officials on overhauling Türkiye’s 1980 coup-era Constitution at talks in his office in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Since April, Kurtulmuş visited all parliamentary groups, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to the main opposition’s Republican People's Party (CHP) and Parliament’s third-largest group, the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), on the issue.
He said he expects the parties to develop their offers over the summer and begin negotiations on the contents of a draft in October when Parliament resumes session.
He also said he observed a generally “open-minded” approach from the parties on the matter and “unprejudiced support” for a new constitution.
Kurtulmuş often argues the constitutional issue shouldn’t be the subject of “any political debate” but instead be handled with “sincerity and good intentions.”
“To manage a difficult process such as crafting a new constitution in a productive manner, dialogue must be set on sturdy ground,” Kurtulmuş said last month.
Before discussions can start, he’s also eager to install a new set of bylaws at Parliament to “increase internal democratic standards and bolster judicial quality.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has been pushing to overhaul Tükiye’s Constitution for over a decade now, which was enforced in 1982 following a military coup that led to the detention of hundreds of thousands of people along with mass trials, torture and executions, which still represents a dark period in Turkish political history.
The opposition has been reluctant and, at times, outright hostile to the attempts to create a new constitution. Their reasons are mostly political and they oppose a constitution to be “imposed” upon them by the government, despite Erdoğan’s repeated remarks that they want to consult with other parties before starting the work.
The document has undergone nearly 20 amendments over the years to keep up with global and regional geopolitical conjectures. The most notable changes were introduced via referendums in 2010 by enabling the trialing of the 1980 coup plotters in civil courts and in 2017 by replacing the parliamentary system with an executive presidency.
In 2007, Erdoğan’s AK Party attempted an overhaul when it employed a commission to produce a draft, which was shelved upon heated criticism from the opposition. Since then, the party has been working on “stronger” material. Its proposed changes focus on freedom, the right to security, the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech and the rights of women and the disabled.
Erdoğan himself discussed the issue with CHP leader Özgür Özel in an unprecedented meeting earlier in May, also signaling softening relations between the opposition and government.
At least 400 lawmakers must ratify a new constitution draft in Parliament. Anything over 360 votes would allow a referendum, allowing the people to decide.
