By Mürvet Öztürk
On April 16, 2017, Turkish citizens will vote on a new constitution that would largely abolish the democratic control of the president. In the run-up to the referendum, the AKP government is already systematically shutting down the political and civil society opposition.
April 16, 2017 will take its place as an important event in the almost 100-year history of the Turkish Republic. On this date, Turkish citizens will be called upon to vote on the draft of a new constitution in Turkey. Much has already been said and written about what a "yes" to constitutional change would mean for Turkey's political system. At this point, I would also like to briefly note that the introduction of the presidential system in its proposed form would be tantamount to the de facto abolition of parliamentary democracy in Turkey. However, I do not want to expand on this point in my contribution, but rather focus on the conditions under which Turkey is approaching the day of the constitutional referendum.
A country in a state of emergency
Turkey has been under a state of emergency since the failed military coup on July 15, 2016. This was extended a second time by three months at the beginning of January this year. This means that the state of emergency will remain in force in Turkey up to and including April 19. The referendum will therefore not take place under "normal" conditions. But what does the state of emergency mean? Above all, it means that the powers of the President have been massively extended. He can rule by decrees with the force of law (Turkish: Kanun Hükmünde Kararname, KHK for short), bypassing parliament. The state of emergency therefore also seems like a foretaste of what Turkey could look like if the constitution is amended.
Elimination of political and civil society opposition
The extension of the state of emergency was initially justified by the need to crack down on the "putschist forces" in the country. The "putschist forces" were identified as the followers of the community of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, with whom the AKP government had previously cooperated closely for many years, thus integrating them into the state in the first place. The attempted coup unleashed a veritable wave of purges against members and sympathizers of the Gülen community in Turkey. But it did not stop there. The Turkish government saw the state of emergency as a suitable opportunity to get rid of other unpopular members of the opposition. President Erdogan even publicly described the failed military coup as a favor from God. First and foremost, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was targeted by the government. The HDP ran in the June 2015 elections with the campaign slogan "We will not make you president!" and immediately won 13% of the vote. The HDP's election campaign was therefore directly opposed to the introduction of the presidential system of the Turkish ruling party, the AKP. And with this campaign, the party had not only increased its share of the vote among its traditional electorate in the Kurdish population, but also found great appeal among Turkish voters in western Turkey. With the state of emergency, the ruling party began to take "revenge" on parts of the HDP and its electorate. More than a dozen HDP MPs have now been imprisoned, including the two co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdag. In addition, numerous Kurdish mayors in south-eastern Turkey have been arrested for allegedly supporting terrorism and their town halls have been placed under forced administration.
However, it is not only the case of the HDP that shows how the Turkish government is abusing the state of emergency for its own political agenda. More than 128,000 people have been dismissed from the civil service as a result of the Turkish president's decrees, over 7,300 academics have lost their jobs at universities, 149 media outlets have been closed and 162 journalists have been arrested. In total, over 90,000 people have been arrested, almost half of whom were detained by a judge (as of February 9, 2017, Turkeypurge.com). The circle of those persecuted extends far beyond the supporters and members of the Gülen community. People who are critical of the government are affected in general. The wave of criminalization against members of the opposition and journalists has not yet come to an end. New arrests are reported every day. We can therefore say without exaggeration that the Turkish ruling party has practically eliminated important political opponents of the presidential system before the upcoming referendum date on the basis of the state of emergency. The voices of the opponents of the constitutional amendment will be silenced in this way even before April 16.
Why a NO vote in the referendum on the constitutional amendment is important!
Despite all this, the polling institutes are currently predicting a neck-and-neck race in the constitutional referendum. We are therefore looking forward to an exciting phase until April 16, in which the opponents and supporters will try to win votes for their respective camps under very unequal conditions. Turkish citizens abroad will once again be able to cast their votes at Turkish consulates between March 27 and April 9, 2017. Before that, it is important to register at the consulates in order to be allowed to vote at all.
Surveys in Turkey show that the majority of the population does not know what the constitutional amendment is about. This also applies to those entitled to vote in Germany. The supporters of the constitutional amendment do not like the fact that the content and consequences of their proposals are being openly discussed. A total of 18 points of the constitution are to be amended. In my view, the five most critical points of this planned constitutional amendment are
- The president would no longer just be the country's head of state, but also the head of government. The office of Prime Minister would be abolished.
- The president would be allowed to remain a member of his party. This would abolish the requirement of non-partisanship.
- The president would be responsible for appointing and dismissing his deputies and all ministers. He could create or abolish ministries at any time.
- The president could issue new laws by decree and would no longer need parliamentary approval. This would mean an enormous disempowerment of parliament.
- If necessary, the president can dissolve parliament.
If these changes are confirmed by referendum, the result would be the de facto abolition of all democratic bodies, above all the legislative and judicial branches. The independence of parliament, the public prosecutor's office, the police and the courts would no longer exist. The rule of law would thus be suspended. In order to avoid this, it is important that there is a high voter turnout among those who want to maintain a parliamentary democracy and say NO to the constitutional amendment and thus NO to the exclusive presidential system.
