Discussions about the Turkish Constitution are always at the top of Turkish people’s agenda for some reason. I don’t know any other country that has needed to discuss their Constitution this frequently.Many scholars and politicians are of the opinion that the Turkish Constitution should be changed due to the fact that it lacks the qualification of being “for the people.” The Constitution is criticized for being for the state rather than its people. Many other laws also give priority to the state. In my opinion, this was first launched and released with good intentions, the idea that the state is never against its people. However, in some cases, good intentions do not work in the way they are planned.
Since this is a free country and everybody is free to have his or her own opinion, I would like to give you some information about the Turkish Constitution so you are aware of certain things when the topic arises.
Turkish Constitution among other laws
The Turkish Constitution occupies the highest seat in the hierarchy of laws in the Turkish legal system. It is barely the highest source, however, in terms of legal sources. This idea is based on the principle of the supremacy of the Constitution.
A short history of Turkish constitutional law
We did not have any constitution during the Ottoman Empire until 1876. The orders of the sultan may have seemed to be the ultimate source of law, but he was actually not. There were many principles and people that bound the sultan. In order to avoid any useless comments in my column, I would like to state that I am aware that the sultan was certainly the ultimate power governing the empire and that no one would be able to do things against the sultan (otherwise this guy would be the new sultan, I would say), but please note that being a sultan and governing the empire was not like running a small tobacco shop. The sultan could not simply order things without using good judgment. There were other people who could speak to the sultan and either influence him or sometimes just make him do things or not do things. These people were those who were respected by the sultan.
The supremacy rule made this clear; the highest law is the Constitution. Ever since we had our first Constitution, in 1876 during the Ottoman times, the supremacy principle has been in force. Writing these lines, I thought about the day somebody convinced the sultan to have a constitution and following this, a parliament. This should be an interesting topic for another article, maybe not by me but some historian columnists.
Then the following Constitutions were released: The Constitution of 1924, the Constitution of 1961 and the Constitution of 1982.
I will give some more details in the next article.
NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to b.cektir@todayszaman.com The names of the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner.
