Turkey's new constitution

[TimothyC]

Parties get to work on new constitution, PM wants it done by first half of 2012

29 September 2011, Thursday / FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK, İSTANBUL

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) on Thursday agreed on how the new constitution will be prepared while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan revealed plans to replace the current Constitution with the new one by the first half of 2012.


“We will concentrate on this issue [of making the new constitution] with the opening of Parliament [on Saturday]. We hope to be done with this issue in the first half of 2012,” Erdoğan said on Thursday as he responded to questions from reporters at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport before he left the country for an official visit to Macedonia.

Turkey's long-awaited expectations for a new civilian constitution have become stronger than ever since the June 12 parliamentary elections. All of the parties represented in Parliament vowed to draft a new constitution to replace the existing one, which was drafted under martial law after the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup and has long been criticized for failing to respond to today's needs for broader rights and freedoms. The ruling party also vowed to make a new constitution after its election victory based on a broad consensus in the Parliament.

As part of its efforts to prepare the new constitution in cooperation with the political parties and the civil society, a delegation from the AK Party visited the CHP on Thursday in a bid to draw a roadmap for the preparations of the new constitution, and the two parties reached an agreement on the method of how to prepare it. The AK Party delegation is led by the party's deputy chairman, Ömer Çelik, and includes Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, AK Party Ankara deputy Ahmet İyimaya and Parliamentary Constitutional Commission Head Burhan Kuzu. The delegation met with a group of CHP officials, which included CHP Deputy Chairman Atilla Emek, CHP Secretary-General Bihlun Tamaylıgil, CHP parliamentary group Deputy Chairman Akif Hamzaçebi and CHP Party Council member Süheyl Batum at the CHP headquarters in Ankara.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Çelik said the two parties had reached an agreement that a reconciliation commission led by Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek should conduct the preparations for the new constitution and that the number one item on the agenda for Parliament in the new term should be the new constitution. Çelik underlined that opinions on the content of the new constitution were not discussed during the meeting as it will be the task of the Constitutional Reconciliation Commission to discuss the content of the new charter.

CHP’s Hamzaçebi pointed out the necessity of drafting the new constitution with a broad consensus, noting that having strong public support behind it will make the legitimacy of the new constitution unquestionable.

“Constitutions are texts of social contracts. They should be texts on which the society has the broadest consensus,” he said.

In the first round of talks with political parties on the new constitution, the AK Party met with the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to exchange views on the constitution-making process on Wednesday. The meeting was deemed a positive one by the ruling party.

Professor Serap Yazıcı, an expert on constitutional law said she finds the agreement between the AK Party and the CHP and the willingness of other political parties to give members to the Reconciliation Commission a very positive development while acknowledging that the preparation of the new constitution will be a challenging process.

“The Reconciliation Commission will first decide on the method regarding the preparation of the new constitution and it will then begin to discuss the content of it. The political parties in Turkey have very different approaches regarding the major problems of the country. For instance, the MHP may not accept the [pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party] BDP’s excessive demands [to be included in the new constitution]. The political parties need to act with self-sacrifice in this process,” Yazıcı told Today’s Zaman.

Regarding Erdoğan’s remarks about finishing the new constitution by the end of the first half of 2012, Yazıcı said although the process is just at the start, it is very pleasing to see the prime minister make such determined statements on the preparation of the new constitution.

Prime Minister Erdoğan, who on Thursday also commented on the decision of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to end its parliamentary boycott and to join in with parliamentary proceedings, said the party can take part in talks on the drafting of the new constitution as long as they form a parliamentary group. Noting that the government had initially requested appointments with the parties that have parliamentary groups in Parliament, he added they can also meet with the BDP if they form a group.

The BDP refused to take the oath in Parliament and join in with parliamentary proceedings in protest of the imprisonment of six of its deputies. Thirty-six independent deputies supported by the pro-Kurdish BDP were elected in the June 12 elections. However, six of them are currently under arrest as part of the Kurdish Communities’ Union (KCK) trial. The BDP made the decision to boycott Parliament after the Supreme Election Board (YSK) stripped Hatip Dicle, one of the six jailed BDP deputies, of his mandate because of a prior terrorism-related conviction after the June 12 vote. On Wednesday, the party announced its decision to end its boycott of Parliament.

The latest developments, which have raised hopes about the preparation of the new constitution, were also interpreted as a good sign by renowned constitutional law professor, Ergun Özbudun, who at the same time acknowledged the difficulty of the process.

Özbudun said by the political parties having some red lines on the issues that polarize the country and having different approaches toward the issues such as the Kurdish problem, freedom of faith and expression as well as military-civilian relations, show the difficulty of achieving a broad consensus on the new constitution.

Regarding the prospects of the making of the new constitution by the end of the first half of 2012, he said the new constitution should be prepared within a reasonable period of time and it should be done by the end of 2012 at the latest, or else, the parties will lose their concentration on it and begin spending their energy on preparing for the upcoming general elections.

Thanks EU!

For those who don't know, Turkey has a history of military coups when the government would get to islamist for the chiefs of staff of the military. The EU dangeled the offer of membership in front of the Turkish Republic, and thus the military didn't depose Erdoğan when they could have. Erdoğan has now been successful in making the military toothless at maintaining the secularism that has been spelled out in the Turkish constitutions by removing their practical ability to remove him and his party from power.

[Stark]

I'm sure glad the military can't dictate to the civilian government anymore. I sure am!

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

By 'the military intervened whenever it was falling towards Islamicism' you mean, of course, 'the miltary intervened whenever the generals' privileges and the Kemalist oligarchs were threatened'. It's an honest slip, I'm sure.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

Incidentally, Erdogan has instituted more democratic reforms than any Turkish government in recent memory, reached out to the Kurds, liberalized the media (though there are still issues), normalized relations with Greece, and is probably most notable for bringing interest and the public debt under control and presiding over a period of unprecedented economic growth. A true fanatic committed to the Jihad!

The fact that the best 'Evil Turkey' article you could pull for your insane headline is that Erdogan is making bi-lateral agreements to replace Turkey's current quasi-fascist constitution says it all.

[wautd]

This will derail the tread a bit but speaking of separation between church and state, I was flabbergasted to hear that there's none in Greece. They brought it up because they passed a new tax on real estate that the greeks will have to pay via their electricity bills. If they can't pay: no electricity for you! And appearantly, the greek Church is the largest owner of real estate in Greece, but they were conveniently exempt from paying this tax. Fair and just indeed

[Stark]

How is that, in any way, related to this thread? Did you miss the EU thread next door?

[wautd]

How is that, in any way, related to this thread? Did you miss the EU thread next door?

Yeah, not much. I saw Secularism in the title and Thanks EU! mentioned in the OP. I connected the dots a bit too quickly I'm afraid.

[Teebs]

The title of this thread is really misleading. Nowhere in the article posted is a decline in secularism mentioned. In fact a large part of the article was about how the AK Party will be including the (Kemalist) CHP in the drafting of the constitution which sounds to me more like protecting secularism.

So, this looks like a fairly positive development. Major parties work together to reform a constitution that's been criticised for giving the military too much power. Contrast that to the clusterfuck that was Hungary's recent constitutional rewriting.

[Stofsk]

The title of this thread is really misleading.

Congratulations, you win the 'Understatement of the Year' award

[Teebs]

Congratulations, you win the 'Understatement of the Year' award

I'm mostly English it comes naturally to us.

To avoid making a contentless post. I find the AK Party very interesting in that they seem to be going for something along the lines of a Western European Christian Democratic Party. Hopefully in the longer term this will be exactly how things go and they'll continue to provide an example of an Islamic party that fits in with democracy and a generally secular society.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

I looked at the thread title, saw who was making the post, and thought "Yep. Typical TEH EBBIL MOOSLEMS alarmism." The posted article says precisely jack about the Turks vowing to end secularism and replace it with Islamic Law, or whatever else . . . all it says is that the Turkish Parliament is getting ready to rewrite the Turkish Constitution. Big fucking deal. And, besides, it's not like Turkish citizens are especially free to begin with. You can be thrown in prison for the crime of "insulting Turkishness," and the Turks routinely ban websites, such as Youtube. Being a journalist in Turkey can be something of a hazardous occupation, given that whole potential insulting Turkishness thing. There are also the numerous human rights abuses the country has committed in dealing with the "Kurdish problem." And, while Turkey is a 'secular' country, religious education (pronounced: "the theology of Sunni Islam") is compulsory in primary and secondary schooling.

So, I'm not really seeing the benefits of the vaunted "secularism at gunpoint" form of government. If your government requires periodic military coups to maintain function, it was probably rather dysfunctional to begin with. I say the Turkish work towards a new constitution is a step in the right direction, since it will force them to address some of their long-standing issues.

[Thanas]

Wow, the EU is executing another master plan. This time they want to talibanize secular dictatorships. Must be the same masterplan at work which has the EU planning to wreck its own economy.

Surely the EU is the most evil of all nations out there, what with its civil liberties that actually count and high HDI placements.

[hongi]

I'd rather have a moderate Islamic democracy than a secular military dictatorship.

[Shroom Man 777]

Gods, this is hilarious. Someone bemoaning the fact that militaries can't coup or replace legitimately elected governments at will? Next time any Hyper Patriotic Conservative American says anything about freedom this or democracy that, I'm just gonna go fart in his face. Maybe I can eat some humus or chilli or something, so my fart can smell all funny and make the American freak out because my bowels will smell like Islamists or something.

The Turkish constitution should allow the military to unilaterally administer an enema to remove the Islamists in my colon. FOR FREEDOM.

[Flagg]

The best part about this thread (aside from Timbo C being hitlarious) is the ad for Hermann Caine at the bottom.

[Shroom Man 777]

If you look at history, you'll see that America in general is only cool with democracy when it applies to rich first world Western nations. They prefer corrupt and US/West-allied dictatorships or juntas to be in power over poor third world nations, and when those poor third world nations actually democratically elect leaders who--gasp--end up supporting the people's interests or what the people want and don't give a wooden nickle about American interests, well you see guys like MariusRoi going on about the Islamists or the communoids or the Mohammedians or the Confucianists or whatevers.

So, when folks see this kind of Hypocritical Pleuritic Crap Attitude, it's really no surprise why the rest of the world hates America's guts.

[TimothyC]

I stick by the thread's original title. I'll apologize if, when the constitution comes out the current statement about Turkey being a secular republic is still there, and there is no mention of Islam in it.

[Shroom Man 777]

Maybe if they made a Turkish ARAMCO, a TURAMCO, and bought F-15s and M1 Abrams and had a Turkish King Abdullah pecking cheeks with Shrubya, then you'd be okay if their constipitution is all Mohammedianoid and monarchical to boot? I bet that would make them better allies to freedomocracity

[Stark]

Man, I wish I had the political nous to make a claim unsupported by the evidence I present and then just say PROVE ME WRONG HAHA when challenged.

PS any change to the constitution of a foreign country he doesn't like will be taken as evidence that teh MOOSLUMZ have taken over the country - and not, y'know, that a country that doesn't care what he thinks is doing what it wants. That sort of thing really enrages America!

[Simon_Jester]

Look, Shroom, this is to some extent a legitimate thing to worry about- Turkey has a history of, whatever else is wrong with it, not decaying into a fundie shithole. The idea that the rewritten constitution might change that by declaring Turkey to be a "Muslim Nation" in some sense... well, it's not that implausible. And it would be bad, just like if in the US people were able to rewrite the constitution to declare the US to be a Christian nation, like our own fundie dingbats would like it to be.

I do, however, worry about the authoritarian streak implied by assuming the country will go to shit without the army to override election results that run in the "wrong" direction. That system has more or less worked for Turkey, in that a lot of other countries have wound up a lot worse off over the years, but that doesn't mean it's best for them.

[Stark]

Sorry dude, if a country decides to change their constitution to be a 'fundie shithole', well, that's democracy.

I guess the idea of civilian control of the military is something that isn't macho enough for many Americans; look at the habitual lying to congress and commonplace disrespect for elected decisionmakers that we constantly hear about. Imagine if political change could never occur in your country because the military sat on it. That'd be pretty boss, right? Democratic and all! Rule by the people... the people with guns.

[Shroom Man 777]

I am glad that Turkey has evolved beyond the need of military coup powers to oppress the civilian government whenever the voice of the people is wronggo.

Hail to democracy. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, William Howard Taft, and Augusto Pinochet would be proud!

I think there are sub-species of eagles living in Turkey. They might not be bald eagles, but I think they also have tear ducts. They shall shed a tear of freedom.

Even if they turn Islamist and don't eat pork, Sharia law will still allow them to eat freedom beef steaks.

Hail to democracy!

[Skgoa]

I'd rather have a moderate Islamic democracy than a secular military dictatorship.

Do you realize you just chose Iran over Iraq? What kind of terrorist-loving traitor are you?

[bobalot]

I'd rather have a moderate Islamic democracy than a secular military dictatorship.

Do you realize you just chose Iran over Iraq? What kind of terrorist-loving traitor are you?

How is Iran considered "moderate"?

[K. A. Pital]

How is Iran not moderate as far as Islamic nations go? They aren't the Taliban. They are simply a modern incarnation of Islam, not a particularly radical form of Wahhabism.