Constitutional debate

In every endeavor, procedure comes before substance. Regarding the constitution, procedure is also exceptionally important. The most vital issue concerning procedure is that a member of parliament who has entered the parliament by taking an oath according to an existing constitution, regardless of their position or office, is not qualified to draft a new constitution, except for proposing necessary amendments to the existing one. This procedure also binds the person in the office of the president. Because the political cadre in power, including the president, has taken an oath according to the given constitution, the public's vote is also valid only under this assumption. The procedures for drafting a new constitution are very clear; a constituent assembly equipped with the task of drafting a new constitution is formed, this body drafts a new constitution, the draft may be submitted to a public vote, and subsequently, the constituent assembly is dissolved.

The second significant weakness regarding the drafting of a new constitution is that a political cadre that has attempted to maintain state administration with an almost lawless style is not qualified to draft a new constitution, not only from a legal procedural standpoint but also from an ethical perspective.

While the situation is clear from both legal and ethical perspectives, the existing political cadre will attempt to push these boundaries. It is clear that a constitution-making process initiated by the current political power would exceptionally weaken the possibility of protecting the nation-state structure, which is already worn down within the framework of globalization conditions. We perceive this situation more clearly in the current conditions of the new order, where imperialism attacks from all sides, and where the Middle East is being torn apart like raw cotton by the imperialist architect of the Greater Middle East Project. It is impossible to think that a politician and political cadre who, despite being the elected president of one country, has been appointed to the task by another powerful country, could construct a new constitution based on national sovereignty and freedoms, or that they could possess this power.

To get an idea about the management mentality of the current government attempting to draft a new constitution, we must look at some expenditure items. The image displayed in the country regarding education, which is as fundamental a citizenship right as health, has nothing to do with the economic situation or necessities. Because the country's resources are sufficient to establish and operate both a qualified education system and a qualified health system. The issue is not resources, but mentality and the consolidation of the voter base. Because as the young population becomes educated, the AKP's voter base erodes. Such being the case, the existing political cadre is attempting to realize its only ambition—the passion to remain in power—by also endangering the well-being of the country. It should not be difficult to imagine how this mentality could be realized in the envisioned new constitution.

At the point reached as a result of the impasse into which the AKP, which has been in power for over twenty years, has dragged the country economically, all hopes are being pinned on exploitative foreign hot money sources. The first example of this, as is known, is the 2000 IMF-Derviş project. The appearance of the first years of the AKP being positive is the period of abundance when foreign capital and investment projects, which opened our country to exploitation, brought their investments to commit robbery. While paying the bills of that period, which appeared as abundance, we are struggling with such difficulties. Given that global capitalism, due to its deep crisis, is trying to exploit countries in the periphery with their valuable minerals and underground resources, it should not be very difficult to think about whose secret ambitions the new constitution, which a political structure that has plunged the country into deep economic distress and does not want to lose its power at any cost is trying to create, might be the work of.

A political cadre that stands up to draft a new constitution is expected to at least be respectful of existing constitutional provisions. While this is the case, the current political power's desire to draft a new constitution will actually be a constitution of its own design, for which it has already given clues through some practices. This initiative of the existing political cadre should be seen as objectionable, both in terms of the goal of ensuring political survival by masking its exceptionally worn-out image, and in terms of its acceptance of being appointed to the imperialist's "Greater Middle East Project" without receiving consent from the nation, despite being a political figure elected by the nation. While public opinion should prevail in the drafting of a new constitution, staying away from the breezes of imperialists is an indispensable condition.

I wish the New Year brings health, happiness, and well-being to all friends, our country's people, and all of humanity!