I have no doubt as to whether the AK Party will exert efforts to fulfill this promise, based on my impression that the party carefully refrained from making promises that it would unable to keep. However, our experience is that past attempts to create such a constitution failed even at the beginning, telling us that this latest attempt will have to face great challenges. The militant reaction staged against the proposal by Professor Zafer Üskül, who entered politics to amend the 1982 Constitution under which the state is made superior to the individual and his rights and freedoms, should be seen as the expected reflex of the status quo. However, Turkey currently needs a contemporary and civilian constitution that will promote individual rights and freedoms, put a special emphasis on freedom of entrepreneurship, limit the role of the repressive, ideological state and maintain the rule of law -- rather than a constitution that will sustain the anti-democratic structure of the archaic status quo.
The 1982 Constitution, written in the military guardianship era to secure the influence of the state and military on society and politics, falls short of meeting the contemporary needs of Turkey and still stands as a serious flaw of our democracy. Despite the impressive reforms introduced to facilitate Turkey’s EU bid, the Constitution still preserves its militarist core and seems to be a defective text that could lead to different interpretations. This Constitution is the biggest obstacle to the country’s progress.
The dominant role of the military in politics through institutions like the National Security Council (MGK), the transformation of the universities into some of sort of military institutions where scientific inquiries are excluded under the lead of the Higher Education Board (YÖK), the erosion of trust in the judiciary because decisions of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) cannot be appealed, and many more... In short, Turkey has to get rid of the present Constitution that prioritizes the state rather than the individual’s rights and freedoms.
It is already known that the AK Party, in realization of this need, has been working on a new draft constitution. The news coverage referring to efforts by a team headed by respected academic Prof. Dr. Ergün Özbudun on a new constitution indicates that there has been some progress in this matter. Of course, the creation of a new constitution is not the job of a small team, which can only produce a text that could be forwarded to civil society organizations and political actors for review and consideration. Such a draft text can be revised in light of the views of the various social actors. At this point, the AK Party should exert efforts to achieve the greatest consensus to facilitate the adoption of the constitution that Turkey so desperately needs. It also has to preserve its reformist reflex against any anti-democratic attempts to circumvent its work.
I should also mention that some headings in the draft that Özbudun and his team are working on sound pretty good. What does the draft contain? Here are some topics: the president’s authority to appoint members of high bureaucracy and supreme judicial organs will be limited; some of his decisions can be appealed. The decisions of the YAŞ and the HSYK can be appealed. YÖK, which has been an obstacle to scientific progress in Turkey for years, will be abolished. The president will not have the power to appoint university rectors. Fundamental rights and freedoms will be raised to EU standards. The structure of the Constitutional Court, whose decisions triggered discussions on its legitimacy among the public, will be changed. The number of members in the court will be increased. The MGK will no longer be a constitutional institution.
To me, the proposed amendments on YAŞ, the HSYK, the MGK and YÖK are the most striking ones. But are they enough? Of course not. I think the Constitution should also contain a provision clearly stating that the General Staff is subordinate to the civilian political authority. If we discuss a civilian and democratic constitution, then military expenditures should also be made transparent and overseen by Parliament.
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