Reviving after the acceleration of efforts to make a new constitution in the TGNA, the Constitution Platform is to hold provincial meetings with broad participation.

ANKARA – The Constitution Platform established in 2007 under the leadership of the TOBB and with the participation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is rallying. The Platform will search for “common sense” for the constitution-making process, organizing provincial meetings with broad participation and establishing a dialogue with the masses.

On Monday, 26 December 2011, the members of the Platform met with the members of the Constitution Committee led by Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) Speaker Cemil Çiçek. Delivering opening remarks, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the works initiated in 2007 with the Constitution Platform were now reviving along with the acceleration of efforts to make a new constitution in the TGNA. “We desire that the new constitution be the memorandum of understanding of all 74 million citizens of Turkey,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said.

Emphasizing the importance of participation in the new constitution-making process, he maintained that the presence of platforms and channels through which the people could raise their voices would make a huge contribution to the constitution-making process. He in this context acknowledged the determinate efforts to enable a participatory constitution-making process and thanked Cemil Çiçek on behalf of the TGNA.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the new constitution must be a text that “is based on the individual, is anti-discriminatory, tries to realize equality in all aspects of social life, gives individuals the opportunity to enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms at universal standards and protects the perception of democratic, secular and social law state.”

He added, “We are submitting with joint signatures to Mr. Çiçek the contributions the Platform can make in identifying the ground principles on which the new constitution will be build. In the period ahead, we will organize a number of provincial meetings with broad participation. We will mobilize our ability to represent the masses. This way, we will try to spread out a culture of dialogue-based mutual understanding in order to search for common sense during the constitution-making process.”

“The process will be completed by the end of 2012”

TGNA Speaker Cemil Çiçek stated that the Commission had been working since October 19 with the support of political party leaders and that they aimed to finish the work regarding the making of a new constitution by the end of 2012 should the NGOs give support to the process. He said, “With this meeting, we aimed to inform your umbrella organization that has a target group of more than 40 million people. We have demands from you, as well…”

Stressing the difference between writing and making a new constitution, Çiçek added:

“If we were writing a new constitution, we would receive academic support, prepare a draft text, send the text to you for opinion and submit the revised text to the Parliament.” He maintained that since the goal was to make a new constitution, it first was necessary to identify what sort of a constitution the people wanted.

"We have been working with TEPAV a long time."

Bendevi Palandöken, President of the Confederation of Turkish Artisans and Craftsmen (TESK), stated that everyone was trying to take on responsibility and contribute to the new constitution-making process and added that professional organizations, including TESK and NGOs, had been working with TEPAV to this end for a long time. He added, “We want Article 173 that judges that the state shall take measures to protect artisans and craftsmen to be maintained. Also, we want Article 135 that regulates the operation of professional organizations to be kept in the new constitution.”

The meeting, held on TESK premises, was attended by Deputy Chair of the Constitution Committee and AK Party Istanbul MP Mustafa Şentop, AK Party Ankara MP Ahmet İyimaya, CHP Konya MP Atilla Kart, and MHP Erzurum MP Oktay Öztürk as well as Cemil Çiçek and the members of the Constitution Platform.