Merdan Yanardağ warns about the Constitution: AKP aims to make its authority permanent

TELE1 Editor-in-Chief Merdan Yanardağ and Constitutional Lawyer Prof. Dr. Süheyl Batum participated as speakers in the forum where important exchanges of ideas regarding Türkiye's agenda took place. The forum was moderated by TELE1's experienced presenter Evren Özalkuş.

YANARDAĞ: CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT DOES NOT BUILD A DEMOCRATIC FUTURE

Yanardağ stated that the constitutional amendments proposed by the government will not build a democratic future and said:

"A real constitution should be prepared with social consensus, in a free discussion environment, and through a participatory process. The current government is not aiming for such a process, but rather for an order that will perpetuate its own authority."

Yanardağ underlined that the new constitution should be made with the real representatives of the people and the active participation of civil society.

Highlights from Merdan Yanardağ's speech at the program are as follows:

-Rauf Orbay, together with Ali Fuat Pasha, invite Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to a garden house when the discussions on the declaration of the republic intensify. Rauf Orbay wants “the Caliphate to remain, and even the sultanate to continue.” So does Kazım Karabekir. They are the heroes of the War of Independence, but they want the Caliphate to continue.

-There is a caliph until 1924. While Vahdettin and the Ottoman dynasty fled abroad, a significant part of the dynasty continues to reside in Istanbul. Secularism, as a definition, entered the Turkish constitutional and legal system in 1924. 1924 is proof that the revolutionary wing of the Turkish revolution completely dominated the process. This is what it means.

-The Constitution is not perfect, it has deficiencies, it can be completed and improved. In my opinion, the 1960 Constitution is what completes the 1924 Constitution. The 1924 Constitution is the Constitution that closed an era in the Ottoman lands and in Türkiye. The 1960 Constitution is the Constitution that introduced democracy to Türkiye.

-In 1924, an assassination attempt on Mustafa Kemal was discovered. Many people, including Kazım Karabekir, who had played a role in the struggle for independence but had not taken part in the revolution were arrested. The struggle was actually more violent than we thought. Some were exiled and went abroad. They were the conservative part of our revolution. Some made peace with the republican revolutionaries. Like Celal Bayar, like Adnan Menderes. But the revolution progresses in such a dialectic.

-What prevented this from being a very healthy development? The conservative wing came to dominate the republic from 1950 onwards, liquidating the revolutionary and democratic side of the republic. The biggest factor here is NATO.

"Türkiye WAS SACRIFICED TO THE COLD WAR"

-Turkey is a country that was sacrificed to the cold war. The green belt doctrine is a policy of provoking political Islamism. Therefore, it is political Islamist. It is a fabrication of imperialism. If there is a single ideology in Türkiye that is not local and national, this ideology is political Islamism. It has nothing to do with Türkiye's values.

"ASSOCIATIONS FIGHTING COMMUNISM MAINLY FIGHTED AGAINST KEMALISM"

-When the associations against communism were founded, were there any communists in Türkiye? They mainly fought against Kemalism. Everyone who grew up in those associations is a political Islamist. One of them is İsmail Kahraman, one is Fethullah Gülen, one is Recai Kutan, one is Abdullah Gül. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who grew up in his youth organization. Hulusi Akar is also associated with them. He is one of the rare names who went to all of Necip Fazıl Kısakürek's seminars when he was a high school student and became the chief of general staff despite not having graduated from a military high school.

ÜMİT UYSAL: THE CURRENT SITUATION IS EVEN BEHIND PAST CONSTITUTIONS

Muratpaşa Mayor Ümit Uysal emphasized that Türkiye's current constitutional order is even worse than the constitutions made after military interventions in the past.

Uysal criticized the current management approach, saying, “The system we are in today not only narrows down democratic practices but also fundamental rights and freedoms. Even the 1961 and 1982 constitutions were ahead of today’s practices in some ways.”

Uysal pointed out three important dangers regarding the processes of constitution making, acceptance and implementation.

Uysal, if there will be a constitutional debate under the influence of a structure that has been carrying out ethnic terror activities for 50 years, this is not healthy. If they say that the PKK will abandon terrorism, let's make changes to the constitution and extend our term in power in the meantime, this would be wrong, this is the first crisis. The second direction we are evolving is dictatorship. The place we are evolving on constitutional grounds is autocracy, single-centered governance, and the judiciary becoming a part of the executive. Making a constitutional change or a new constitution under the monopoly of this government is a big problem. The third crisis, which is the most difficult, is abstract and uncertain, it can take decades or centuries to solve this. Our people do not read the constitution, they do not protect their constitutional rights. The votes in the 2010 and 2017 referendums could have been "no" with a high percentage."

PROF. DR. SÜHEYL BATUM: IT IS NECESSARY TO ASK WHY, HOW AND WHAT QUESTIONS

In his speech, constitutional lawyer Prof. Dr. Süheyl Batum drew attention to the increasingly limited powers of the Constitutional Court.

“Today, the institutions that provide legal guarantees are being hollowed out. However, in a state governed by the rule of law, the independence and effectiveness of the highest judicial institutions are vital,” Batum said.

Batum also stated that the discussion of a new constitution should be conducted not only with rhetoric but also by providing clear answers to the questions of 'Why, how and what will be done?'

The forum was concluded in an interactive environment with questions and evaluations from the participants. The speeches gave important messages about the future of democracy and the rule of law in Türkiye.

Source: News Center