Saturday 07 / September / 2024
Istanbul/Ankara: A call by Turkey's parliament speaker for a new constitution to drop references to secularism provoked opposition condemnation and a brief street protest on Tuesday, potentially undermining government efforts to forge agreement on a new charter.
Speaker Ismail Kahraman said late on Monday that Turkey needed a religious constitution, a proposal which contradicts the modern republic's founding principles.
President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party have tried to restore the role of religion in public life. They have expanded religious education and allowed the head scarf, once banned from state offices, to be worn in colleges and parliament.
The AKP is pushing to replace the existing constitution, which dates back to the period after a 1980 military coup. As speaker, Kahraman is overseeing efforts to draft a new text.
"For one thing, the new constitution should not have secularism," Kahraman said, according to videos of his speech published by Turkish media. "It needs to discuss religion... It should not be irreligious, this new constitution, it should be a religious constitution."
Critics fear a new constitution could concentrate too much power in the hands of Erdogan, who wants an executive presidency to replace the current parliamentary system. The government has promised that European standards on human rights will form the basis of the new text.
Mustafa Sentop, a senior AKP member who heads a parliamentary commission on constitutional reform, said a draft text retained the precept of secularism and his party had not even discussed removing it.
But Kahraman's comments drew criticism from government opponents suspicious of the ruling party's ideals.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the main opposition and secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), tweeted: "Secularism is the primary principle of social peace... Secularism is there to ensure that everyone has religious freedom, Ismail Kahraman!"
Devlet Bahceli, leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said it was not right to open secularism up for debate and called on Kahraman to take back his words.
Ankara police used pepper spray to disperse about 50 demonstrators, including some CHP lawmakers, who gathered outside parliament. Dozens of people were detained.
NATO member Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union, has long been touted by its Western partners as a model secular, democratic nation.
Erdogan's fervent supporters see him as a champion of the pious working class, resetting the balance of power in a country they say was dominated by a secular elite for much of the last century. Turkey's most influential leader since Ataturk, Erdogan won almost 52 per cent of the vote in an August 2014 presidential election.
The AKP holds 317 of the 550 seats in parliament and would need 330 votes to submit its draft constitution to a referendum. This means it must win over lawmakers from other parties, a campaign which Kahraman's comments could risk undermining.
"These statements are going to complicate efforts towards a new constitution," a senior AKP official told Reuters. "We will have to convey very clearly to the public that such an approach is not being considered. But frankly, after yesterday's statement, it is not going to be easy."
Kahraman said the current charter was already religious.
