Various civil society groups and business organizations have been sharing their own recommendations on what the content of Turkey’s new planned constitution, which all of Turkey’s political parties say they will strive to draft and pass after the June 12 elections, should be like.
The Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE) joined a growing list of civil society groups on Wednesday by announcing its own draft of a new constitution that rejects any form of military custodianship or hegemony and has no untouchable or unchangeable articles. SDE President Yasin Aktay shared the institute’s opinion of what the new constitution should be like with reporters at a press conference. The proposal grants full rights and freedoms to minorities, including the right to education in one’s mother language.
Aktay said that the planned constitution to be drafted by Parliament should be “based on the principle of human dignity, unyieldingly democratic, not assigning a ‘custodian’ of any kind, establishing the supremacy of the law, pluralistic and liberal.”
Speaking at the same press conference, Sacit Adalı, head of the SDE’s Specialized Committee, said Turkey needs to make a new social peace contract to overcome inner conflict, referring to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) separatist campaign of violence that Turkey has been struggling with for the past 30 years. “It is time to learn a lesson from what has happened. A great price has been paid and the peace has been disturbed. Now we are at a stage where we are changing this,” he elaborated.
Doğu Ergil, a sociology professor who also spoke at the conference, said if the constitution is liberal to begin with, the laws that will emerge out of it will also emphasize freedoms and pluralism. “There is an authority above the Constitution: the state. Our political culture sees the state as the father. This is why, the children -- that is the laws-- that will be birthed by the Constitution are determined by the state. What we want is for there to be no father, and that the mother will decide on the children,” Ergil analogized.
The SDE’s recommendations include articles that offer protection of human rights in the face of state power. The group also recommended renaming the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) the Armed Forces of Turkey. “The constitution should include articles that will take the TSK out of discussions on [its role as a] custodian [of the regime]. As part of such a move, the General Staff should be tied to the National Defense Ministry.” Another recommendation highlighted during Wednesday’s press conference was the protection of individual’s right to freely carry out religious practices or rites born out of belief.
The SDE also recommends a new constitutional description of citizenship that is not based on or tied to ethnicity. Some of the proposals of the SDE are as follows: “Every one is entitled to inalienable rights and freedoms ascribed to their person, stemming from the dignity of being human. The limit of everyone’s rights and freedoms are the rights and freedoms of others. No article of the constitution can give the authority to the state to destroy human rights or limit them in ways stricter than as authorized by the constitution. Citizenship of the Republic of Turkey defines the legal link between the state and individuals. Citizenship is not ethnicity based. There cannot be any discrimination between citizens based on differences in ethnic background, religion, language, sect, gender, ideological beliefs and the like. Everyone has the right to education in line with their religion and belief, to establish educational institutions and decide their own curriculum.
Conscientious objection is a right for all citizens. Nobody can be forced to serve in a public duty that goes against their religious or philosophical beliefs and preferences. Freedom of expression should be guaranteed. Freedom of expression shall not be limited except for cases of inviting violence, racism, disseminating hatred and violation of the privacy of others. The ideological impartiality of the state should be established first to ensure judicial immunity.”
The SDE also said the Military Supreme Court of Appeals and the Military High Administrative Court (AYİM) should be abolished, along with other institutions that enhance the hegemony of the military. The National Security Council (MGK), the SDE recommends, should no longer have the status of a constitutional institution. Ideological phrases, such as Atatürkism, Atatürk nationalism or the principles and reforms of Atatürk, should be left out of the constitution entirely. The new constitution should also include principles that strengthen local governments at the expense of the central administrative structure. The SDE also called for making it either impossible or at least extremely difficult to shut down political parties.