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The phrase Turkish nation will be included in the text of a new Constitution the Parliament is currently trying to agree on, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Saturday.
Political parties on Apr. 5, submitted their proposed drafts for a new constitution to Parliament, and they are all radically different from one and other, making it unlikely that a consensus text will emerge out of Parliament soon. Turkey has been trying to adopt a new Constitution for the past couple of years, with the adoption of a new and more democratic constitution to replace the current one adopted in 1982 after a coup d'état, being a top promise in the election campaigns of all parties.
The newly submitted proposals indicate the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) are intent on defending and preserving Turkey's current parliamentary system of government, while the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) are targeting a change of system.
A contentious issue in recent debates on constitution writing has been whether the word Turk will be included in the new constitution. The first few provisions of the current article make references to Turkishness and Turkish nation. The MHP's suggestions includes a number of instances where the phrase Turkish nation is used, while the AK Party suggested removing the phrase Atatürk nationalism from the current constitution. The only article agreed on from the current constitution is the secular character of the Turkish state.
In the introductory chapters of the Constitution, the AK Party uses the phrase Turkish nation once. The CHP also included the phrase Turkish nation in its constitution. The MHP's suggestion makes two references to the Turkish nation, and also includes the phrases Turkish Motherland and Turkish citizens. The BDP uses the People of Turkey in its introductory articles.
Deputy Prime Minister Bozdağ, speaking to journalists at the Trabzon Airport on Saturday, responded to a question inquiring whether the word Turkish will be taken out of the Constitution, saying that allegations that the AK Party was thinking of omitting the word Turk was part of a slander campaign started by the opposition and segments who are against the ongoing settlement process to peacefully end the Kurdish question. As we have said before the concept of Turkish nation' will remain in the Constitution. He said however, provisions defining Turkish citizenship will make no ethnic references.
Egemen Bağış, minister in charge of European Union Affairs, also made similar remarks. He said it was wrong to believe that the definition of Turkish nation will be removed from the Constitution, but noted that the government was going to ensure equal citizenship in the new text.
Evaluating the suggestions, Constitutional Law Professor Ergun Özbudun said: It is clear once again that there is a wide difference of opinion with regards to the spirit and philosophy of the new constitution. It appears that this is not going to work with the CHP and the MHP. It will be a work of the AK Party and the BDP.
However, the BDP might not be likely to support a constitution that makes an ethnic reference to "Turkishness." Speaking to journalists in Diyarbakır's Hasankeyf district on Saturday,
BDP Diyarbakır Deputy Altan Tan said: If you write down Turkish nation' in the new Constitution, you will have to list every nationality [in the country]. This goes against the spirit of the new constitution and against the settlement process. He said it would be wrong to include the phrase, asking: If you are the Turkish nation, then what are we? Then should we write down the Kurdish nation, the Arabic nation, the Circassian nation?
Tan said the government was afraid of the nationalism of the two opposition parties and 300 Turkish nationalists, who recently signed a petition. There can be no reforms in a democracy with fear and worry. He said citizenship of the Republic of Turkey should be the main definition in describing the nation of Turkey. This definition includes us all. Anything beyond that won't do any good to anybody.
CHP Deputy Chairman Haluk Koç said the phrase Turkish nation includes everyone who resides in Turkey, regardless of their ethnic roots or beliefs. Speaking at a party event on Saturday in Trabzon province Koç said: There is no discrimination here, or any condescension or superiority. This is really clear. We will overcome these traps.
Different administrative systems
The AK Party's proposal calls for a presidential system, while the BDP's suggestions introduce systems that include regional presidencies and autonomous status for these regions.
The AK Party's proposal introduces a presidential system instead of the current parliamentary system. Its relevant provision stipulates that the legislative authority lies with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, but it assigns executive powers to the President, as head of state in a presidential system. The CHP and the MHP didn't offer any changes to the current authorization of the legislative and executive powers while the BDP's proposal makes changes to articles pertaining to both legislative and presidential powers. It suggests a new structure based on a decentralized system of government, which includes a central president, a cabinet of ministers and regional presidencies.
There were other differences among the three parties' suggestions. The AK Party didn't include the current provision which states that the first three articles of the Constitution can't be changed. It however, called in its suggested draft for a 330 vote majority -- as opposed to the current 367 -- for constitutional changes. Both the CHP and the MHP left the current Article 4, which states that the first three articles are unchangeable as is. The BDP's suggestion also omits the article about unchangeable provisions. All parties agreed in their drafts that Turkey's official language is Turkish, but the BDP demanded Kurdish and other minority languages be accepted as secondary official languages.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-311990-.html
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If this is true I will sleep well tonight. AKP are sons of bitches for letting the Turkish people go through this.
Political parties on Apr. 5, submitted their proposed drafts for a new constitution to Parliament, and they are all radically different from one and other, making it unlikely that a consensus text will emerge out of Parliament soon. Turkey has been trying to adopt a new Constitution for the past couple of years, with the adoption of a new and more democratic constitution to replace the current one adopted in 1982 after a coup d'état, being a top promise in the election campaigns of all parties.
The newly submitted proposals indicate the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) are intent on defending and preserving Turkey's current parliamentary system of government, while the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) are targeting a change of system.
A contentious issue in recent debates on constitution writing has been whether the word Turk will be included in the new constitution. The first few provisions of the current article make references to Turkishness and Turkish nation. The MHP's suggestions includes a number of instances where the phrase Turkish nation is used, while the AK Party suggested removing the phrase Atatürk nationalism from the current constitution. The only article agreed on from the current constitution is the secular character of the Turkish state.
In the introductory chapters of the Constitution, the AK Party uses the phrase Turkish nation once. The CHP also included the phrase Turkish nation in its constitution. The MHP's suggestion makes two references to the Turkish nation, and also includes the phrases Turkish Motherland and Turkish citizens. The BDP uses the People of Turkey in its introductory articles.
Deputy Prime Minister Bozdağ, speaking to journalists at the Trabzon Airport on Saturday, responded to a question inquiring whether the word Turkish will be taken out of the Constitution, saying that allegations that the AK Party was thinking of omitting the word Turk was part of a slander campaign started by the opposition and segments who are against the ongoing settlement process to peacefully end the Kurdish question. As we have said before the concept of Turkish nation' will remain in the Constitution. He said however, provisions defining Turkish citizenship will make no ethnic references.
Egemen Bağış, minister in charge of European Union Affairs, also made similar remarks. He said it was wrong to believe that the definition of Turkish nation will be removed from the Constitution, but noted that the government was going to ensure equal citizenship in the new text.
Evaluating the suggestions, Constitutional Law Professor Ergun Özbudun said: It is clear once again that there is a wide difference of opinion with regards to the spirit and philosophy of the new constitution. It appears that this is not going to work with the CHP and the MHP. It will be a work of the AK Party and the BDP.
However, the BDP might not be likely to support a constitution that makes an ethnic reference to "Turkishness." Speaking to journalists in Diyarbakır's Hasankeyf district on Saturday,
BDP Diyarbakır Deputy Altan Tan said: If you write down Turkish nation' in the new Constitution, you will have to list every nationality [in the country]. This goes against the spirit of the new constitution and against the settlement process. He said it would be wrong to include the phrase, asking: If you are the Turkish nation, then what are we? Then should we write down the Kurdish nation, the Arabic nation, the Circassian nation?
Tan said the government was afraid of the nationalism of the two opposition parties and 300 Turkish nationalists, who recently signed a petition. There can be no reforms in a democracy with fear and worry. He said citizenship of the Republic of Turkey should be the main definition in describing the nation of Turkey. This definition includes us all. Anything beyond that won't do any good to anybody.
CHP Deputy Chairman Haluk Koç said the phrase Turkish nation includes everyone who resides in Turkey, regardless of their ethnic roots or beliefs. Speaking at a party event on Saturday in Trabzon province Koç said: There is no discrimination here, or any condescension or superiority. This is really clear. We will overcome these traps.
Different administrative systems
The AK Party's proposal calls for a presidential system, while the BDP's suggestions introduce systems that include regional presidencies and autonomous status for these regions.
The AK Party's proposal introduces a presidential system instead of the current parliamentary system. Its relevant provision stipulates that the legislative authority lies with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, but it assigns executive powers to the President, as head of state in a presidential system. The CHP and the MHP didn't offer any changes to the current authorization of the legislative and executive powers while the BDP's proposal makes changes to articles pertaining to both legislative and presidential powers. It suggests a new structure based on a decentralized system of government, which includes a central president, a cabinet of ministers and regional presidencies.
There were other differences among the three parties' suggestions. The AK Party didn't include the current provision which states that the first three articles of the Constitution can't be changed. It however, called in its suggested draft for a 330 vote majority -- as opposed to the current 367 -- for constitutional changes. Both the CHP and the MHP left the current Article 4, which states that the first three articles are unchangeable as is. The BDP's suggestion also omits the article about unchangeable provisions. All parties agreed in their drafts that Turkey's official language is Turkish, but the BDP demanded Kurdish and other minority languages be accepted as secondary official languages.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-311990-.html
-------------------------------------------
If this is true I will sleep well tonight. AKP are sons of bitches for letting the Turkish people go through this.
