After two days of intensive deliberations in the northwestern province of Bolu, the Abant Platform has urged the preparation of a new, civilian and democratic constitution in Turkey following the general elections of June 12, saying that the preparation process of the new constitution should not be deadlocked over debates about Turkey's possible system change.
The Abant Platform, which regularly convenes to discuss some of the most vital issues of Turkey and the world with the participation of individuals from every segment of society, gathered for its 23rd meeting titled, “New Constitution, New Term,” at the Abant Palace Hotel over the weekend.
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| State Minister Egemen Bağış speaking at the 23rd meeting of the Abant Platform |
The intellectuals noted that fundamental rights and freedoms should be at the center of the preparation process, while warning that the new constitution should not be affected by debates regarding the adoption of a presidential or a semi-presidential system in Turkey. “These debates should not overshadow the problems that should be resolved in the new constitution or delay their solution,” said the platform. The adoption of the presidential system is a source of frequent debates in Turkey. Last year Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dropped strong hints that his government may push for such a change following general elections in 2011. “If the public grants us the right to make such a change in a new constitution, this issue may come to the agenda and be discussed,” Erdoğan had said at the time.
Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. The executive power is exercised by the government. The legislative power is vested in both the government and Parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Currently, the president is elected every five years by a public vote in Turkey. Executive power rests with the prime minister and the Cabinet. Turkey's main political parties, which have stepped up their election campaigns are all promising a new constitution for the country, one which is more democratic and more pro-freedom, and addresses the major problems of the country.
The final declaration of the meeting, which was read out yesterday by Faruk Mercan, secretary-general of the Abant Platform, underlined that Turkey should urgently get rid of the 1982 Constitution and the “depressing atmosphere” it created in the country.
Turkey’s current Constitution, known as the 1982 Constitution, was written in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup and draws widespread criticism for including anti-democratic elements and being the source of the country’s major problems.
Intellectuals at the Abant Platform described the most significant three constitutional problems in Turkey as pertaining to identity, fundamental rights and freedoms, and the restructuring of military-civilian relations in line with the principles of democracy.
According to the Abant Platform, at a time when Turkey headed towards general elections, political parties’ presenting concrete proposals for the solutions of these problems, and their discussing these solutions with voters and learning the inclinations of voters ,will make their jobs easier, regarding the new constitution, after the elections.
The intellectuals said that this is a golden opportunity for Turkey, as all the political parties, including the main opposition party, have reached an unprecedented consensus about the need for a new constitution, which is based on Turkey’s democratic gains, noting that this consensus will give the government to be established after the elections the legitimacy to write a new constitution.
The Abant Platform said the preparation process of a new Constitution should be handled within an institutional structure that will also make the participation of groups outside Parliament possible. It also said the new constitution should be prepared following a negotiation process which involves the public, while explaining that a negotiation process is not a bargaining process, but one which is about democratic awareness, education and democratic maturity.
The platform also voiced its appreciation for non-governmental organizations such as the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), both of which are working on the new constitution and participating in the negotiation process.
Delivering the inaugural speech of the meeting, State Minister and Turkey’s Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış said the new constitution will be Turkey’s “craziest project,” a popular term used to describe Prime Minister Erdoğan’s recently-announced project to build a waterway to the Black Sea on the European side of İstanbul.
Giving some hints about the framework of the new constitution, Bağış said: “The new constitution will be sufficiently short, brief, clear, people-oriented and pro-freedom. The nation will become the real owner of the state with the new constitution. The title deed of state will not be in the hands of certain groups, but in the hands of the nation. Military tutelage cannot be the fate of this country,” he said.
Professor Ergun Özbudun, an expert on constitutional law from Başkent University, also delivered a speech in the meeting in which he said there are three categories of problems in Turkey that the new Constitution has to deal with.
“One of them is the identity problem, at the center of which lies the Kurdish problem. The others are freedom of faith and expression and normalization of military-civilian relations, that is, the elimination of the military tutelage. If the new constitution does not tackle these three problems courageously, there is no need to exert efforts for a new constitution. If we really want to have a democratic, civilian and new constitution, we have to find democratic solutions to these problems,” he said.
Özbudun was part of the team of jurists who prepared a draft constitution for Turkey in 2007 as part of an initiative by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but the 2007 draft had to be shelved due to objections from opposition parties.
Osman Can, former Constitutional Court rapporteur, said Turkey should concentrate on its problems by immediately solving its constitution problem. “A new constitution is a must for Turkey. If we only make cosmetic changes in the coup-era constitution, we will not be successful economically and fail to achieve social peace. Looking at the pace of and diversity in the world today, you cannot get anywhere with a constitution written according to the mentality of a century ago. If you want the 21st century to be the century of Turkey, the 1982 Constitution should be speedily abolished. Then, things will get back on track,” he explained.
Professor Ersin Kalaycıoğlu from Sabancı University warned that the new Constitution should be prepared in a way that it will not lead to a legitimacy problem.
“The 1982 Constitution created a legitimacy problem for us. There is a need to eliminate this. The new constitution should be prepared in a way not to cause any legitimacy problems,” he said.
The Abant Platform is supported by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF), a leading civic organization that champions the principles of diversity, multiculturalism and dialogue at home and abroad. It was launched in 1998 with the aim of organizing a platform in which people representing different schools of thought can come together and debate the problems of common concern in open discussions. So far the Abant Platform has held workshops to discuss a variety of topics, including secularism, religion, the European Union, the Constitution, education, globalization, social contracts, democracy, modernity, war and peace.
Published on Sunday's Zaman, 01 May 2011, Sunday
