At the opening of parliament, Turkish head of state and government Tayyip Erdoğan announced that a new constitution for Turkey would be written as quickly as possible. HEDEP deputy co-chair and renowned human rights lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan called for a new constitution for Turkey and Northern Kurdistan based on pluralism, participation and human dignity, saying it represents an opportunity for the country. HEDEP has already prepared a draft for such a constitution.

“The military and the AKP enforced their constitutions in a state of emergency”

Türkdoğan MP is responsible for the HEDEP Committee on Law and Human Rights. In an interview with ANF, he underlined the urgency of a completely new constitution to solve the country's problems.  “The current constitution was written by the coup generals of 1980 and enforced under martial law. It is a curious fact that the constitutional amendment that introduced the presidential model in 2017 was also pushed through by the AKP under conditions of emergency. In fact, the government is not satisfied with the constitution that it has made itself, but I think the essential question is what kind of constitution the government is looking for here.”

“The constitution-making process is an opportunity”

Türkdoğan said that after the AKP came to power in the 2000s, it commissioned intellectuals to prepare a draft constitution and that after the 2011 elections, the four parties in parliament formed a reconciliation commission to work on a draft constitution for about a year.

“As a result of this work, they agreed on about 60 articles on individual rights and freedoms, fundamental rights and liberties. The government system of the state, i.e. whether it should be a strictly centralized or a decentralized state, was discussed, as was the question of whether mother tongue education should be free or not. The new constitution was actually an opportunity, because a 'dialogue process' began in 2013. In countries like Turkey, i.e. in countries that have not completed their conflict and resolution processes and these have fallen by the wayside, constitution-making processes also represent an opportunity. In other words: during the constitution-making process one has the opportunity to address the most fundamental problems to solve.”

“The problems cannot be solved with a rigid centralized system”

The lawyer said that “the most fundamental problem facing Turkey is the Kurdish question. The Kurdish question cannot be solved through a rigid centralized state system. It can only be solved with decentralized models in which the powers of local governments are strengthened - some call it democratic autonomy, some call it autonomy, some call it empowered local governments. Such structures were envisaged in the draft constitution of 1921. Therefore, the process of constitution-making should be approached in this spirit. The President has stated this, but he needs to follow up on it. We remind him of this and urge him to do so. A new constitution, a civil constitution, is all well and good, but what kind of constitution do we want to have? If this is about the family model or results in an even more rigid, centralized state system, then, of course, we will stay away. But if it’s about us first sitting down at the table, talking about the constitution together and deciding what we want, then of course we’re there.”

“We will definitely talk about the Kurdish question”

Türkdoğan continued: “We view the constitution-making process as a place where solutions to fundamental questions are discussed. When this process begins, we will, of course, discuss the Kurdish question. We will discuss the Alevi population's demands for equal citizenship rights. We will discuss social gender equality in alternative to the concept of family. We will talk about the right to freedom of expression. We will talk about freedom of the press. We will talk about torture and ill-treatment in prisons. We will talk about freedom for political prisoners. We will talk about economic prosperity, about a fair distribution of income. We will talk about restoring our right to draft the budget, that is, the right to draw up a budget that returns the people's money to the people. We have many topics we need to talk about. If someone avoids talking about it, then they are not doing politics. The process of making a constitution is precisely where politics is made.”

“AKP has brought with it a shift to the right and a conservative push”

Türkdoğan added: “The AKP has pushed through a shift to the right in Turkey. It has various Islamist references. This contradicts the secular line that Turkey has pursued since its founding. There is no end in sight to the process of rightward development and backward turn. Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on the Protection of Women from Violence shows where the AKP is going in this process. It could be one of the AKP's political goals to use the headscarf as a pretext to incorporate this process of limitless expansion of conservatism into a constitution. I'm not sure how other parties behave in this process. At the moment, the AKP does not have the power to achieve this alone. The other parties should be reminded that if they are willing to give up basic social principles in order to maintain their alliance with the AKP, if they are willing to give up the secular structure of this country, then their political identity is also changing. Everything in Turkey has changed in an incredible way.”

“HEDEP’s draft constitution is ready”

Öztürk Türkdoğan stated that HEDEP's draft constitution was ready and many problems could be solved with a new constitution. The HEDEP MP emphasized the democratic principles of openness, pluralism and participation: “The constitution must start with human dignity, with the principle of equality in terms of dignity and rights. When we talk about pluralism in democracy, the denial of Kurds or Kurdish identity and the denial of other peoples will stop. There are formulations for this. You don't necessarily have to name all the peoples, you have to propose an approach that includes them all. There must be a wording in the constitution that ends the denial of world views and religions. Pluralism is related to these issues: linguistic pluralism, ethnic pluralism, religious pluralism. When we think about minority rights, this is the real constitutional guarantee of these rights. Participation is very important. If you accept pluralism, you cannot dismiss the mayors elected by the Kurds in a place with a large Kurdish population. This violates the principle of participation. The trustee policy must be abandoned. There can be no open government if the country continues to be governed by secret decisions of the National Security Council. At the moment, the government is already doing what it wants. If it comes to the public with a new constitution, then the constitutional principles common in modern democracies must be anchored in it. Turkey must chart a path forward. We must ensure social peace as quickly as possible. The way to get there is to deal with our social problems. The process of creating a constitution is also a process of coming to terms with it.”

An ecological and social constitution without discrimination

Türkdoğan emphasized that, in HEDEP's opinion, a new constitution must guarantee all the rights and freedoms that are contained in international agreements to which Turkey is a party. It is also essential to include the rights of social groups and communities in the constitution: “Some parties in Turkey agree with us regarding the rights and freedoms of the individual. We recall that Kurds, Alevis, Arabs, Lasis, Circassians, as well as the various faiths and religious groups also have rights, and we want these collective rights to be guaranteed in the Constitution. We remember that nature also has rights and we say that there should be constitutional guarantees for the protection of nature. We want social systems to be anchored in the constitution so that people have an income that enables them to lead a dignified life. We want a decentralized government system. Turkey achieved this with the constitution of 1921. It accepted these principles. We need to stop the politics of denial and sit down together. We want community coexistence, as enshrined in United Nations resolutions, to become a constitutional principle. In short, with this constitution we want to solve the Kurdish question, guarantee the rights of the different communities, ensure the Alevi demands for equal citizenship rights and, of course, also make progress in gender equality.”