Ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary group Chair Abdullah Güler says they will soon hold talks with relevant parties for drafting a new constitution. The issue is at the heart of Türkiye’s efforts to erase the legacy of coups that stalled democracy for decades.
Güler told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday that they were now waiting for a visit from Parliamentary Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş to all parties in a bid for consensus on the issue. “We will then launch our own talks,” he said.
The party’s constitutional overhaul proposal has gained pace after the elections in May 2023, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowing to “liberate Türkiye from a coup mentality.”
The debate over the constitution has been lengthy and for more than a decade, Erdoğan and the AK Party championed the struggle to gain the support of other political parties to draft a new constitution. 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 current Constitution 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 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.
The enhancement of these rights and liberties has seen setbacks in the bureaucracy that have prevented them from being appropriately implemented.
Güler highlighted that Türkiye was in dire need of a new constitution. He noted that Türkiye took several steps in the past to that extent but failed to achieve concrete results. “Amendments rather made the Constitution of an insufficient ragbag of laws. The current Constitution is far from meeting the expectations today. We need a civilian, pluralist and democratic constitution,” he said.
“Our talks with other parties will involve discussions for a way forward and methods (for drafting a new constitution). The constitution is a text written through social consensus. We believe we can create a center for brainstorming on the constitution, a center where all segments of society can contribute, with their ideas, from universities to businesses and civic society institutions."
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.
The AK Party retained 268 seats in the May 14 parliamentary polls, far higher than its closest rival, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which won 169 seats. The AK Party, however, is part of the People’s Alliance, which also includes its closest ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and together, they have 323 seats.
