According to the Turkish Anadolu Agency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Monday night, after a ministerial meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, that the time has come to draw up Turkey’s new constitution.
“In the event of an agreement with the partners (the National Movement Party), steps can be taken to formulate it,” he said, stressing the need for transparency in the new draft constitution.
Turkish Justice Minister Abdul Hamid Gul said that Erdogan’s statements regarding the possibility of drafting a new Turkish constitution were “good news for everyone.”
Four years ago, in 2017, after the failed military coup, the Turkish government drafted a new constitution at the request of Erdogan and after a referendum under which the country’s system of government was changed from a parliamentary system to a presidential one.
The Turkish people voted in favor of the constitutional changes in 2017, and the country moved from a parliamentary democracy to an executive presidential system, despite strong reactions from the opposition and critics.
Under the new system, Erdogan was elected president in 2018 with wide executive powers, which the opposition parties described as a “one-man system.”
The AKP and its allies in the national movement defended the system, saying it was a simple government apparatus.
