TURKEY IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE

Turkey is preparing to adopt a new constitution. By the centenary anniversary of the Republic of Turkey in 2023, it is planned to approve the first civil constitution of the country through the process initiated by the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Turkey is not what it used to be!"

Back in early February, President Erdogan announced the start of discussions on the development of a new constitution. At the same time, he assured that the process will be as transparent as possible and will take into account the views of all segments of the Turkish society. In procedural terms, during this year, all political forces in the country will develop constitutional initiatives, which will then be submitted for public discussion.

President Erdogan made a series of loud statements on the new constitution at the congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) held in March. He said that in the first half of 2022, the government will present to the public the text of the constitution, which “will be the product of open and transparent work”. According to Erdogan, the main content of the legal document will address "all internal and international realities."

The current Turkish constitution was adopted in 1982 after a military coup. Therefore, Erdogan emphasizes that "it is already 29 years old and has lost its historical relevance and context." At the same time, the constitution has undergone several revision, with almost no unchanged articles left in it. The latest changes were initiated by Erdogan himself, and resulted in the change of the parliamentary form of government to the presidential one. Thus, AKP put an end to the power model that had existed since the creation of the Turkish Republic, where the parliament was the key institution.

Following the results of constitutional referendum held in April 2017, the powers of president were significantly expanded: he became the head of both state and government. President now has the right to appoint a vice president and ministers, half of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors, issue decrees that do not require parliamentary approval, and even dissolve parliament for any reason. Erdogan himself moved from the abolished prime minister's post to the presidency following the results of presidential elections held in June 2018. And now he proclaimed that Turkey should celebrate the centenary anniversary of the republic not with the constitution of the coup but with a new one, a civil constitution, in accordance with modern requirements.

It is expected that the debates on the new constitution will address a number of issues fundamental for all political forces. In particular, the opposition, which criticises the excessive bias towards strengthening the presidential power, will insist on returning to a parliamentary form of governance, or minimum to a semi-presidential model with more powerful influence from the highest legislative body. We can assume that in the new constitution, the role of the parliament, which considerably weakened after the 2017 amendments, will be strengthened. However, it is obvious that it is not the main objective of President Erdogan. His statement that the new constitution will provide an opportunity to strengthen the presidential system of governance clearly hints at his intention to maintain the current form of governance in the long term.

Another principal issue is the secular nature of the Turkish Republic. Despite the moods within AKP, which has made a reputation of a "moderately Islamist" force, it is almost impossible to make changes in the constitutional provisions concerning religion and nation. All major political forces, including AKP’s coalition partner, the Nationalist Movement Party led by Devlet Bahceli, are supporters of secularism. So, any surprise moves in this regard are not expected.

However, this does not deny the fact that the general spirit of the new constitution will be in line with AKP’s strategic guidelines. According to the renewed biennial programme of the party, a new general election is slated for 2023. The party expects to get involved in the election as a force that has turned Turkey into one of the leading states capable of influencing the global economic and political order.

Erdogan declared the ambitious role of his government saying that the forces that over the past two centuries "have been trying to limit Turkey's development by forcing it to focus only on local issues" will no longer be able to achieve what they want. “Turkey is not what it used to be! Our development goals set until 2023 will become the starting point for the development of powerful and strong Turkey in the 21st century and beyond,” President Erdogan said. At the same time, he expressed his intention to expand the number of ‘friendly states’, ‘to continue to promote ties with all countries of the world: from the US to Russia, from the European Union to the Arab world’.

Hence the logic of domestic and foreign policy goals and objectives set by the Turkish leader shows that the new constitution will become a basis to achieve them.

Erdogan and his opponents

Announcement of the new constitutional process in Turkey was accompanied by a number of significant events. Primarily, the neutralisation of forces that pose a real threat to the political system to be established in the context of the "civil constitution" and the respective agenda. It provides for strengthening the internal unity and expanding the country's international influence.

Thus, the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (PDP) was nearly closed, when prosecutors appealed to the Constitutional Court with a request to dissolve the organisation due to its statements and actions, which "serve to split the state and the people." Although the Constitutional Court returned the request due to ‘procedural deficiencies’, it is safe to assume that PDN will most likely remain outside the Turkish political process, as a political force with separatist sentiments.

Another very remarkable incident of the internal political struggle that unfolded after President Erdogan’s announcement of the new constitution is the letter of 103 retired admirals, who expressed their concern over the plans to create the Istanbul Canal designed to become a new shipping artery connecting the Black and Marmara Seas. The signatories also indicated that this might lead to Turkey's withdrawal from the Montreux Convention, which regulates the status of existing canals in the straits of Bosphorus and Dardanelles. Admirals also indicated the need to preserve the current constitution of the country intact.

Position of the retired admirals caused sharp discontent in the ruling circles. It became clear that at least two issues would cause acute, perhaps even fierce struggle between the government and the opposition. One of them is the proposed construction of the Istanbul Canal, which is supposed not to be a subject of the Montreux Convention but to make foreign states to pay for its use. The other issue is the upcoming constitutional reform. As a manifestation of the level of controversy, ten former admirals who signed the letter were arrested and charged of high treason. Erdogan also accused the leading opposition party–Republican People's Party (CHP)–of the publication of the open letter.

According to the Turkish President, “There are also members of CHP and those in the leadership of the party who signed the letter. They are trying to justify the document, which resembles a coup,” said R. T. Erdogan. He made it clear that he was determined to strongly oppose the plans of his political opponents, particularly on the issue of the new constitution.

Sovereign law

Thus, the upcoming adoption of the new constitution has deep meaning in the context of the further development of Turkey.

The story of the letter signed by admirals is remarkable in that it also shows the confrontation between Erdogan's party and that part of the military elite, which assesses the government's policy of ousting the army from political life as an encroachment on the foundations of the Turkish Republic laid by its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Therefore, the pro-government media called the open letter a ‘war memorandum’. They underlined that ‘coup and terrorism are two issues in the Turkish political life on which we must be most sensitive and demonstrate a national reaction’.

In fact, the ongoing preparations for the new, ‘civil’ constitution can be considered a consequence of suppression of the attempted military coup in the summer of 2016. Erdogan has since strengthened his power and logically brought it to the model of the state that is capable of finally ending the putschist practice that has repeatedly determined the fate of the Kemalist republic. The new constitution, both in its letter and in spirit, will have to symbolise this new image of Turkey.

Remarkably, such a reincarnation will be materialised by a political force inextricably linked with the social-conservative movement in Turkey and based on the Islamic spiritual values. In the early 2000s, the birth of the AKP phenomenon was a response to a social demand for a policy, which would take into account the civilisational identity, as well as cultural and historical traditions of Turkey. The key motivating reason for this social demand was that the Turks were tired of feeling their inferiority in the political space, which Turkey had been trying to become part of for several decades. Many Turks considered fair the well-known phrase that in the 20th century Turkey turned from the first country of the East to the last country of the West. Moreover, the Euro-Atlantic world does not want full and equal integration with the historical heir of the Ottoman Empire, hence using any pretext to point out Turkey’s “unconformity” with the standards of the Western civilisation. Rejecting such an unjust and discriminatory approach, the Turks found comfort in turning to their national memory, to those religious and cultural ideals that had served their ancestors to achieve international recognition and greatness.

In this context, the adoption of the new constitution promises to be one of the most interesting events in the modern history of Turkey. It will set a new path for the development of Turkey, ensuring, in particular, the growth of its influence in the world arena.