TURKEY'S CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM FOCUSES POLITICAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002919 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM TU SUBJECT: TURKEY'S CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM FOCUSES POLITICAL DEBATE ON FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE REF: ANKARA 2414 Classified By: Political Counselor Janice Weiner for reasons 1.4(b),(d ) ¶1. (C) Summary and comment. After a clumsy start, the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) efforts to push through comprehensive constitutional revisions are gaining momentum. AKP officials, at least in private, are forthrightly stating that wholesale changes are necessary to wrench control from the state and put the people and their elected representatives in charge. Opposition leaders, including some who supported similar revisions under earlier administrations, maintain Turkey does not need a new constitution. They acknowledge the current text, drafted by the military following the 1980 coup, needs amending but are strongly resisting an AKP-sponsored complete overhaul. Six months after AKP began the reform process, the debate centers on whether AKP can produce a consensus constitution that advances Turkey's democracy (rather than AKP's agenda),or whether the process will replace a flawed document that protects the state from the people with an equally imbalanced one that creates a one-party state. A key test will be AKP's willingness to incorporate other views into its yet-to-be-released draft. End summary and comment. ¶2. (C) AKP has made constitutional reform a top priority since its wrangle with the state establishment during the 2007 presidential and parliamentary elections. Despite efforts to entrust the initial drafting to a committee of neutral constitutional law experts, AKP's close-hold approach raised suspicions and sparked criticism of a non-inclusive process. AKP denies the charges, claiming the experts' draft incorporates revisions proposed in earlier reform efforts by TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association),TOBB (Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges),the Union of Bar Associations and other liberal organizations - groups that now resist AKP efforts to "fix" the much-amended 1982 text. AKP points to their opposition as proof that their objection is to Islam-oriented AKP making the changes, not to the changes themselves. As Professor Ergun Ozbudun, head of the experts committee of drafters, remarked, "In Turkey, the message is not as important as who says it." ¶3. (C) AKP has yet to release a party-approved text, allowing damaging speculation to flourish. PM Erdogan indicated a text might be ready for public review by mid-December; other AKPers have told us it would be out by January. AKP Vice Chair Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat claims the delay is deliberate, to allow the party's review committee time to consider other organizations' drafts. "We wanted them to work with us but they preferred to work separately," he said. Firat, who heads the review committee, says AKP's Central Executive Board has set a timetable and will reach consensus on a releasable draft by December 15. English translations have already been prepared, he said, leaving unclear why AKP incurred translation expenses for a draft theoretically open to revision. ¶4. (C) AKP Whip Sadullah Ergin, also on the review committee, blames the delay on the opposition's "ideological" reaction to AKP's reform effort. "There was broad consensus for reform, but when AKP presents a draft, society reacts reflexively," he commented. AKP Whip and former Constitution Committee Chair Bekir Bozdag, noting that many previous reform efforts had been invalidated by the constitutional court or vetoed by former President Sezer, said AKP had learned that, "constitutional reform is the engine for all other reforms," and must take priority. ¶5. (C) The process for incorporating public input in the draft remains unclear. AKP Foreign Affairs Committee Vice Chair Mehmet Ceylan expects NGOs, opposition MPs and others will present their views to parliament's Constitution Committee, which will then finalize a text to move forward sometime in 2008. Others, including Erdogan, suggest the draft will first be open to public comment before being formally submitted to parliament. Firat told us AKP is encouraging groups to organize conferences and seminars to discuss the issues over the next three to four months, followed by two to three months of debate in the Constitution Committee or a special subcommittee, and another several ANKARA 00002919 002 OF 003 months of debate in the General Assembly. Parliament's Constitution Committee Chair Burhan Kuzu emphasized that AKP remains open to input as it develops the draft. ¶6. (C) AKP's initial assurances that the proposed amendments were not significant have gradually morphed into grander statements that Turkey needs a more modern, democratic civilian constitution to bring the country in line with a changing world. "We can do more piecemeal changes but in the long run, it is better to do one major overhaul," Firat said, adding, "Superficial changes cannot change the spirit of the document." Zeroing in on the heart of the debate, Firat stated, "Sovereignty belongs to the people, not the state. The state no longer needs to be protected from the people, as after the 1980 coup. The Turkish people have had enough of this elite group running the country; they no longer want to be governed by a constitution that is the result of a coup. That's why AKP gained power." The main issue is who controls the country's sovereignty, not headscarves or religion in school, he concluded. ¶7. (C) According to Professor Ozbudun, Turkey will only be a true democracy if the key state pillars established in the 1982 constitution as checks on the system are changed. Based on its deep distrust of Turkey's political class, the military set up three main checks, which they thought would always be controlled by state elites: the presidency, with control over judicial and other appointments, the National Security Council (MGK),and the Supreme Education Board (YOK). AKP's draft reduces the president to a more symbolic position and changes YOK into a coordination and planning board, Ozbudun explained. The Security Council's influence was weakened by EU accession-required reforms in 2006. "We wanted to eliminate the tutelage system here," he said. ¶8. (C) Such statements confirm the opposition's and many secularists' worst fears of AKP's true intentions. Summarizing the views of many who oppose AKP's efforts, liberal constitutional scholar and former Justice and Defense Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said, "We need some changes, but we don't need a whole new constitution." Rumors that AKP's draft includes revisions to the first three, untouchable articles -- establishing Turkey as an indivisible democratic, secular, social republic governed by the rule of law and loyal to the nationalism of Ataturk -- are particularly concerning, Turk said. Proposed changes to the judiciary will politicize the court system by allowing parliament to elect some judges, including to the constitutional court, he added. ¶9. (C) AKP's lack of transparency in drafting a new text polarized an effort many Turks, to some degree, support. Nationalist Action Party's (MHP) Vice Speaker Meral Aksener said her party supports constitutional change as long as the unitary state structure based on a secular, democratic republic is retained. Her colleague Tugrul Turkes agrees, but calls AKP's approach more like that of a sultanate than a democracy. "They forget they are just elected politicians with a majority," he commented. Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice Speaker Guldun Mumcu, voicing Kemalist fears, doubts AKP is serious about creating a truly civilian constitution. "They want to create an Islamic Republic here and CHP won't let that happen," she stated. Even former AKP deputy PM Abdullatif Sener told us the party (on whose governing board he remains) is acting as if it knows everything. To accomplish serious constitutional reform, he stated, it is even more important to take into account the views of minorities and the downtrodden than those in power. ¶10. (C) AKP seems genuinely determined to produce a civilian constitution of the people, not just AKP-dominated parliament. Even if the required number of MPs approves the text in the General Assembly, AKP plans to submit it to referendum to give the people a chance to vote on it, Ceylan said. Firat echoed that, noting, "We have pledged to submit this to referendum", preferably by late 2008. Bozdag, also on AKP's review committee, remarked, "This is the first time Turkish society has had a chance to discuss Turkey's constitution. We may not meet the demands of everyone, but the people will be happy to know their concerns were taken into consideration." Opposition leaders are already working hard to label AKP efforts as designed solely to further AKP interests, rather than Turkey's. After its initial stumble ANKARA 00002919 003 OF 003 launching the reform process, AKP will need to actively accommodate at least some opposing views if it hopes to accomplish its ambitious, if laudatory, goal of giving Turkey a truly democratic constitution. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON