How to Make a Constitution? Current Developments and Debates in Turkey

Abstract

It is common wisdom that Turkey, with its divided society, has a long but troubled history with democracy. Especially with
respect to the last three decades, one should remember the making and functioning of the current constitution. Since its adoption in
1982, current constitution of Turkey has been a target of condemnations, since it had been a fruit of a military coup d’etat . Falling short
of the current international standards of democracy and rule of law, this Constitution has undergone seventeen amendments. A
considerable number of liberalization and democratization packages to the constitution were made during the last eight years of Justice
and Development Party (Adalet ve KalkÕnma Partisi: AKP ) With the electoral victory of the AKP on 12 June 2011, the process of the
resolution for Turkey’s chronic “constitutional problem” took a new pace. As its third term has started, the AKP stated that Turkey
needed an entirely new constitution and this would be done in a constitution making process, where all segments of the political
spectrum would be represented. This presentation aims to explore the question of constitution making considering the most recent
developments and debates surrounding the present Constitution of Turkey. For this, we will first consider the question of constitution
making in terms of constitutional law, as well as political science. Then we will go on to explore the major legal and political problems in
this framework.