Türkiye: The Republican People’s Party, the Democrat Party, the Future Party, the Democracy and Progress Party, the Good Party and the Felicity Party announced the constitutional amendment proposal required for the transition to the Strengthened Parliamentary System with a program attended by the 6 political party leaders. (Source: News Agencies)

Comment:
The draft constitution prepared by the opposition leaders, consisting of the Table for Six, consists of 84 articles and 9 titles. The proposed constitutional amendment was announced to the public with the slogan “It’s time for democracy”.

In the Table for Six’s proposal to amend the constitution for the transition to a strengthened parliamentary system, some important regulations that stand out are as follows:

–        The President will be elected by the people, as in the current system, and by receiving the absolute majority of the valid votes, that is, by the votes of at least 51 percent [of the people].

–        The electoral threshold of 7 percent will be lowered to 3 percent.

–        The fact that the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation could file a closure case against political parties is going to be tied to the permission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

–        Instead of the presidential cabinet, a council of ministers will be formed as in the old system.

–        The Interior Ministry’s power to suspend mayors and councilors will be abolished. It will be replaced by State Council decisions.

–        The State of Emergency system is being reorganized. Accordingly, the authority to declare a State of Emergency will belong to the Council of Ministers who come under the chairmanship of the president, and the Emergency State Decree-Law cannot be issued.

–        The council of judges and prosecutors will be closed and a council of judges and council of prosecutors will be established.

–        The number of members of the Constitutional Court will be increased from 15 to 22. 20 of the members will not be stipulated by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and their sections will not be stipulated by the president. The number of sections of the court will be increased from two to four.

First of all, this constitutional proposal prepared by the opposition parties includes a return to the British parliamentary system. It is based on the interests of the British rather than the people. Instead of the American presidential system, the British parliamentary system is taken into account. The opposition is playing on words and saying that it wants to move from a parliamentary system to a strengthened parliamentary system.

Türkiye made the transition to the American-style Presidential System of Government with the referendum held in 2017. The AK Party has achieved many political gains with this new system instead of the parliamentary system, the inventor of which was the British. In this way, the AK Party gained superiority in many institutions, especially the army and the judiciary, where the British had taken root for nearly eighty years. The upcoming 2023 Presidential elections are critical for the British. The Table for Six, which represents the British, attaches great importance to this election. If the AK Party, which orbits around the US, wins the 2023 elections, the British know very well that this loss will be a disaster for them. For this reason, the table for six proposes this constitution, which it has prepared by showing the current constitution to the society as a one-man constitution or a constitution that allows it, as a transition to a so-called pluralistic, democratic, human rights-oriented and strong parliamentary system. Therefore, while the AK Party wants to continue the current system with a big win in the 2023 elections, the opposition parties, consisting of the table for six, want to win the election and switch to a strengthened parliamentary system.

At the same time, when we look at the constitutional proposal prepared by the Table for Six, it is seen that warm messages are sent to Kurdish voters. The AK Party and the Table for Six need the votes of Kurdish voters to win the 2023 elections. Especially in the constitutional proposal prepared by the Table for Six, it is seen that warm messages are given to both the Peoples’ Democratic Party and Kurdish voters. For example, there are some subjects which make the closure of parties difficult, prevent the appointment of trustees in municipalities and make the legislative immunity difficult. In addition to this, the abolition of the decree-laws which were made during the State of Emergency regarding FETO voters and which give great powers to the President, is also included in the new constitution draft.

The opposition parties that make up the Table for Six see the source of all social problems in the presidential government or presidential system. They try to form public opinion in the society in this direction and manipulate the society. They declare to the public that the new constitution they propose and the strengthened parliamentary system that will implement this constitution will be the solution to all crises.

From 1923 until today, a total of three constitutional amendments have been carried out and dozens of articles have been amended. Despite the dozens of arrangements made, there has not been a positive change in the course of the society. In the period when it was implemented, the parliamentary system did not achieve the slightest success in solving the problems of the people. In the same way, the presidential system currently implemented has been inadequate and even failed in this regard.

In fact, basically both systems are not much different from each other. They are basically the same. Both systems serve the interests of the imperialist Kuffar. It is based on the secular democratic capitalist system, the main pillars of which separates religion from life and is a non-Islamic system. Both systems do not give Islam a say in the public sphere. It is the system that uprooted Islam from all spheres of life and is hostile to Islam.

Therefore, this constitutional proposal prepared by the Table for Six will never be able to end the current social crises and social polarizations like the previous constitutions.

Yilmaz CELIK