Erdogan promised to save Turkey from the coup-era Constitution

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, known for ending Turkey’s military and bureaucratic tutelage, is trying to clear the latest obstacle to a fully democratic country: a civilian constitution. As he received future judges and prosecutors at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara on Tuesday, he reiterated his aim to replace the Constitution drawn up by the coup regime in the 1980s with a “civilian” constitution.

The modern Turkish state has been governed by four constitutions since its foundation, the first adopted in 1921, amended in 1924 and 1961 before the 1982 Constitution was introduced. The bloody 1980 coup that led to hundreds of thousands of arrests, along with mass trials, torture and executions, still represents a dark period in Turkey’s political history.

The 1982 document has since overseen many major revisions and has been modified to adapt to global and regional geopolitical conjunctures. The most recent changes were introduced after the 2017 referendum, including the transition from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

Discussions on the drafting of a new constitution have become more prominent after the re-election of Turkey’s current president, Erdogan, and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in last May’s elections. Whenever possible, Erdoğan tries to change the current Constitution in favor of a “civil, libertarian and inclusive constitution”. Over the past few months, he has repeatedly promised to do so.

In his speech to the young men and women who participated in the lottery ceremony to determine their first appointment as a judge or prosecutor, Erdogan expressed his regret that the current Constitution is a “product of a coup”. Referring to the October 29 anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he said, “We cannot accept to celebrate the centenary of the Republic of Turkey with the coup era Constitution.” “We want to celebrate the centennial with a constitution that is civil, libertarian and inclusive. I sincerely believe that we will deliver on this, as we have done on all the promises we have made before,” he said.

Erdogan said that Turkey has already raised the standards in the judicial system in the last 21 years, during which his party and himself won consecutive elections. He said that the judicial process has been speeded up by establishing more courts and appointing more personnel. “We have simplified the legal process and made it more democratic,” he said, citing war crimes trials in civilian courts.

The proposed changes will focus on freedom, right to security, right to fair trial, freedom of speech, as well as rights of women and disabled people. The strengthening of these rights and freedoms led to backlogs in bureaucracy.

The plan was developed in cooperation with a number of human rights groups based on observations and reports of international human rights monitoring mechanisms.

Some of the other principles are human dignity as the essence of all rights under the active protection of the law and the provision of equal, impartial and honest public services to all. It envisages the strengthening of the rule of law in all areas, such as the guarantee of rights and freedoms, and that no one can be deprived of freedom for criticism or expression of opinion.

At least 400 legislators must ratify the new draft constitution before it can be passed by Parliament. More than 360 votes will pave the way for a referendum for the people to decide.