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New Turkish Constitution…Soon | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Binali Yildirim, REUTERS/Umit Bektas


Ankara- After years of drafting, and a failed coup attempt, the initiative on amending the Turkish constitution has been finalized. Amid rising discussions on the new constitution, PM Binali Yildirim has promised the Turkish people of a new constitution that protects their country from future crises.

Yildirim added that while drafting the constitution, they took the remarks made by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) into consideration.

Turkey has started preparations of the new constitution in 2011; however, the project was halted for years because of the divergence of positions among parties. Later, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan started talks on a new presidential system back in 2013, but the project failed again.

After the failed coup attempt in July, a committee including three parties has been composed with the exclusion of the Democratic People’s Party to set the new constitution project including the new presidential system.

The agreement between the JDP and the MHP has caused a remarkable debate between the MHP and the Democratic People’s Party.

MHP leader Bahçeli has criticized the accusations against his party by the opposing Democratic People’s Party and said that goals cannot be fulfilled by spreading chaos.

Bahçeli said in a meeting with his party’s parliamentary block that those who oppose the approach between the JDP and the MHP are the same who didn’t accept the Turkish people’s will, pointing to the failed coup attempt of July.

Meanwhile, Yildirim has outlined early parliamentary elections saying that his government has maintained a professional performance and that any talks on early elections aims at disturbing the political stability of the country.

İsmail Kahraman, speaker of Parliament previously stated that the constitution should be religious and not secular; at that time, President Erdogan rushed to adjust Karaman’s statements saying that secularism will always be one of the main pillars of the Turkish Republic.

Academics say that secularism was misunderstood in Turkey as people considered it a non-religious concept.

All parties in Turkey agree on the national need for a new constitution to replace the current one, which has been set amid the military coup in 1980 and has never fulfilled the Turkish ambitions despite all amendments made. But, the committee composed by the JDP in 2011 failed in reaching a new formula for a new constitution; a new constitution draft in Turkey has become a mission impossible due to the deep ideological gaps among the four main parties in the country.

The Justice and Development party’s main goal is to transform the rule system in Turkey from the parliamentary form into the presidential form. Therefore, the ruling party sought to capture 330 voices to introduce the new constitution for a popular referendum.

These 330 voices have been reached after the support the JDP received from the MHP; thus, Yildirim has announced that the new constitution will be soon proposed ahead of the Turkish people.