Turkish lawmakers will be tackling steps for a new constitution first thing in 2025, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş announced Monday.
Kurtulmuş said he would hold a second round of constitutional talks with political parties at Parliament.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) seeks consensus among parties and the public to replace the coup-era Constitution with a civilian one.
Throughout 2024, the Parliament speaker engaged with various parties, including the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), to obtain their input on a roadmap for a new constitutional draft.
In the second round of talks, Kurtulmuş said he would discuss the method and principles for drafting the new Constitution.
Kurtulmuş said he would first meet with the AK Party ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), then parties in Parliament, and then those without parliamentary group representation. He will also take in the preparations of the parties on the issue.
The AK Party, meanwhile, will continue its constitutional workshops, which aim to produce compiled reports to be utilized in the drafting process.
Should the parties reach a consensus, a joint commission will be set up at Parliament.
Kurtulmuş has said the general consensus is positive toward a new constitution, but the CHP “still remains far from the table.”
CHP Chair Özgür Özel has claimed that a new constitution is indeed necessary, but they will “do it only after the current administration is changed.”
Özel, who met Erdoğan several times as ties between the AK Party and the CHP softened following March’s local elections, said they were ready to bring Türkiye into the new century of the republic with a new constitution “that will be approved by 95% of the population and will be egalitarian.”
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. It still represents a dark period in Turkish political history.
The AK Party hopes to submit to Parliament a comprehensive draft prepared by a scientific council during the pandemic.
The MHP also has a constitutional draft, including over 100 articles.
At least 400 lawmakers must ratify a new constitution draft in Parliament. Anything over 360 votes would trigger a referendum, allowing the people to decide.
The AK Party and MHP’s ruling alliance doesn’t have a parliamentary majority, but insiders have alleged the bloc could make new moves to persuade the opposition, including changes to the current presidential system.
Since its founding, the modern Turkish state has been governed under four constitutions, with the first adopted in 1921, then changing in 1924 and 1961 before the Constitution of 1982 was implemented.
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.
