The Presidency’s Directorate of Communications and Legal Policies Board hosted a symposium entitled "2023 Constitution to Replace 1982 Constitution" on Tuesday, the 43rd anniversary of a coup by the military junta that drafted the current Constitution. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reaffirmed the desire to introduce a brand-new and fully "civilian" constitution in a speech at the symposium. He called upon all political parties, academics specialized in the field and other experts to help them draft the new constitution.

The symposium was held at a museum in the capital, Ankara, a former prison where the junta led by Gen. Kenan Evren seized power.

"Türkiye went through one of the darkest periods in the history of the Republic of Türkiye 43 years ago. We will never forget those days when 50 people were hanged and almost every household felt the suffering (at the hands of the junta). "If these walls of Ulucanlar, Mamak, Diyarbakır and Sağmalcılar could talk, they would tell us about those days," he said, referring to notorious prisons run by junta across Türkiye where anyone, regardless of their political affiliation, could be subject to torture and arbitrary detention in the aftermath of the coup. "Putschists will account for their crimes in the afterlife, for crimes against young people like Hüseyin Kurumahmutoğlu, who was found not guilty after being hanged," he said, referring to a prominent nationalist activist.

The president said the biggest blow by the putschists of 1980 to the country was the 1982 Constitution. "Although it has been amended 23 times since 1987 and though we made a historical administrative change in 2017, we still have a coup constitution," said the president, who became the first president under the new executive presidency system after the 2017 referendum on constitutional amendments.

Since its founding, the modern Turkish state has been governed under four Constitutions, with the first one being adopted in 1921, and changing in 1924 and 1961 before the Constitution of 1982 was implemented.

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. Erdoğan has been pushing to replace the current institution in favor of a "civilian, libertarian and inclusive constitution" when the opportunity arises.

For a new constitution draft to pass in Parliament, it needs at least 400 lawmakers to ratify it. Anything over 360 votes would pave the way for 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, the alliance has 323 seats.

Erdoğan said that although each amendment was significant, they also damaged the "integrity" of the constitution. "For this reason, we launched work for a new constitution about a decade ago at Parliament. This would be a work with the largest political participation, but the opposition parties backtracked, and the work stalled. Yet, we did not give up our goal of giving a new, civilian, democratic, comprehensive constitution to the country. We offered the opposition to rewrite a new constitution together while we were switching to the new presidential system, but unfortunately, it failed because of the opposition’s uncompromising attitude," he lamented.

The president noted that they held a string of workshops with the participation of academics and representatives of nongovernmental organizations on the issue last year and prepared a draft of the constitution, which would be the basis for negotiations with other political parties for the new constitution. "Unfortunately, no other political movement other than the AK Party and the MHP stood up to prepare a new constitution," he said. He added that regardless of the opposition’s stance, they would hold talks with all political groups in the Parliament this year, too.