TESEV urges constitutional changes that respect diversity

In a June report, TESEV lauded the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s “good faith” in addressing the country’s deep-seated Kurdish issue through its democratic initiative but also said that without a proper legal base, enthusiasm will not be sufficient to resolve the problem. The research center’s main argument is that Turkey’s existing laws should be amended. According to the report, the term “Turks” should be replaced by “citizens of the Republic of Turkey” in legislation to embrace all ethnic differences in the country.

TESEV proposed amendments to 18 laws as well as several constitutional amendments in that regard. The NGO also urged the government to make changes to other existing legislation and to sign certain international conventions to make human rights better respected in Turkey.

“That the citizenship was built [only] on Turkishness reduced the Republic of Turkey to a Turkish state. The understanding of the inseparability of the state, on the other hand, resulted in the state’s failure to see none of those non-Turkish cultural identities on the basis of equality. Whereas the judicial system formed under such an administration mentality is seen as a sign of ill-intention by the Kurds, what has been done in the name of justice is proof that a multicultural societal structure cannot be tolerated,” wrote Etyen Mahçupyan, director of the democratization program at TESEV, in his preface to the 56-page report, adding that “resolving the issue necessitates the realization of human rights reforms for legal texts because without that judicial base, there is no possibility for the government’s good faith to give results.”

In terms of being party to international agreements, the report maintained Turkey should sign the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, among other conventions.

Of the constitutional changes the report argues should be carried out to resolve the Kurdish issue, there are even amendments to the Constitution’s unchangeable first three articles. The report says the current Constitution is “anti-democratic” and “lacks democratic legitimacy” as it was drafted under junta rule established following the violent military coup of 1980.

“Including its introductory part, an emphasis on the Turkish ethnic identity is dominant over the Constitution in general. This emphasis shows itself with oft-repeated terms like Turkish homeland and nation, supreme Turkish state, Turkish language, Turkish culture and Turkish history. This language does not fit the pluralist structure of Turkey’s society, which is composed of people of different ethnicities,” co-authors Dilek Kurban and Yılmaz Ensaroğlu said in the report, suggesting that a brand-new constitution respecting Turkey’s culturally, linguistically and ethnically plural structure would fit its citizens’ expectations.

However, recognizing the validity of the government’s concerns that making a brand-new constitution is not so easy given the current political environment, the report proposes amending articles 5, 42, 66, 68, 69, 84, 120, and 121 as well as first three unchangeable articles of the current Constitution.

Extended freedom for use of Kurdish

With the 18 changes to existing legislation it proposes, the TESEV report puts particular emphasis on the importance of allowing the use of Kurdish everywhere, including in politics, education as a mother tongue, in people’s names and family names and in place names.

It also suggests that the Law on Political Parties should be completely overhauled because “it is not suitable for democracy and the rule of law.” Another change the report argues should be made is to the Law on Parliamentary Elections, which is the source of the 10 percent national elections threshold for political parties to win seats in Parliament. It says the threshold is too high compared to the European average, which is between 3 and 7 percent. “Though it is enforced for all political parties, the 10 percent election threshold is de facto preventing candidates of political parties established to contribute to resolving the Kurdish issue from entering Parliament,” the report read.

In addition to that, it argues that the problems related to freedom of expression cannot be reduced solely to the well-known Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which stipulates up to three-year prison terms for those who unequivocally insult Turkishness, and has in fact a larger legal basis. In that regard, the report says the TCK’s articles 66, 216, 220, 222, 314, and 318 should be changed, while Article 301 should completely be removed from the text.