The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Unions (TİSK), the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş), the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş), the Turkish Tradesmen and Artisans’ Confederation (TESK), Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) and the Turkish Union of Agricultural Chambers (TZOB) released a joint statement yesterday following a meeting in Ankara. The unions lent conditional support to the amendments, criticizing the government for failing to make amendments to articles regulating working conditions and the economy.
“We expect the proposed amendments that are on the agenda today to be concluded with a broad compromise. We think that this newly launched process can revive the consensus environment in the country, which has long been absent. This could also help end the turmoil in the economy. We are also aware that although these changes are noteworthy, they do not meet the need for a new constitution,” read the statement by the unions.
Stating that they have argued for a long time that the current Constitution is not sufficient for today’s political and economic environment, the statement said it is not possible for Turkey to continue with its old legal structure for its the economy and social life, in particular.
The statement underlined that Turkey still needs a well-designed constitution that takes Turkey’s sensitivities into consideration. “Our expectation is the preparation and implementation of a constitution which protects our democratic, secular and social state of law, which is based on rights and freedoms and the rule of law and which is open to change and overlaps with the values of society,” read the statement.
Recalling that the seven unions took the initiative to prepare a new constitution in 2002 and set up a constitutional platform in 2007, the statement also said the unions will continue to exert effort to this end.
