ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that his ruling AK Party and nationalist allies could begin work on drafting a new constitution, less than four years after reforming the previous constitution to grant powers ample responsibility.
The Turks voted in favor of constitutional changes in 2017, prompting the country to move from a parliamentary democracy to an executive presidential system, despite strong reaction from opposition and critical parties.
Erdogan was elected president under the new system in 2018, with broad executive powers that opposition parties have described as a “one-man regime”. The AKP and its allies in the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) defended the system, saying it created a simplified state apparatus.
“Perhaps the time has come for Turkey to once again discuss a new constitution,” said Erdogan after a cabinet meeting in Ankara. “If we reach an understanding with our alliance partner, we can mobilize for a new constitution in the next period,” he said, adding that efforts must be transparent and shared with the public.
“No matter how much we change, it is not possible to erase the signs of coup and guardianship that were inserted in the spirit of the constitution,” he said, adding that he is upset that previous attempts of this type have sunk in the main opposition “uncompromising stance”.
Erdogan’s comments come weeks after MHP leader Devlet Bahceli suggested constitutional changes to ban the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP) for separatism, a move that the HDP condemned as an attempt to silence six million votes.
Bahceli has long been a staunch critic of the HDP and, like Erdogan, accuses him of links to militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who fought a 36-year-old insurgency in southeastern Turkey. The HDP denies this.
“Working on a constitution is not something that can be done in the shadow of groups linked to the terrorist organization (PKK) with people whose mental and emotional ties to their country have been severed,” Erdogan said on Monday, without specifying.
Human rights groups and Western allies in Turkey have criticized what they see as growing authoritarianism and threats to the rule of law under Erdogan, especially since a 2016 coup attempt that has generated widespread repressions against his alleged opponents in the public, military and elsewhere .
Turkish authorities rejected the accusations, saying the measures were necessary for national security.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Originally published