The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is soon to ready a report for a new constitution, media outlets reported on Wednesday.
An article on the Ekonomim website says the party will also seek the opinion of the opposition parties before presenting the report to the party’s chair, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The article says the party’s Constitution Committee has convened several times since it was founded earlier this year and discussed expectations of the public and other parties for a new constitution. Most opposition parties are open to a new constitution, but they favor an approach that may change the current governance. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is known for its opposition to the executive presidency system and long advocated for a return to the previous system where the post was symbolic, and the government was governed by a prime minister.
Erdoğan is a staunch advocate of a new constitution that will replace what he calls the "outdated” one.
The AK Party has long campaigned for a new constitution, including a declaration announced during its 2023 election campaign. The “New Constitution for the New Century of Türkiye” declaration, which refers to the second century of the Republic of Türkiye, underlined the need for a new constitution. “Establishing a constitutional order based on human dignity for the prevalence of developments in the field of rights and freedoms is necessary,” the 2023 declaration said.
The declaration also said the constitution would preserve democratic gains acquired during the AK Party’s governance and would ensure a high-standard democracy, guarantees for freedoms and the supremacy of law.
The government has been pushing to overhaul the 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 Constitution’s first four articles, which state the essential tenets of the Turkish republic, have been subject to debate for years. The CHP has repeatedly accused the AK Party of aiming to change the articles, which the ruling party flatly rejects.
The current 1982 Constitution's first three articles regulate the basic principles of the country, namely: that the country is a republic; that it is a democratic, secular and social state governed by the rule of law; that its language is Turkish, its capital is Ankara and that the first three articles cannot be altered.
