Syria’s Constitutional Process: Lessons Learned from the Turkish Experience
Syrians for Truth and Justice
STJ is a nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organization, working on documenting human rights violations in Syria.
During the dialogue session on the Turkish constitutional experience, the participants discussed the theory of the social contract, the concepts of authority and legitimacy, and the form of the state. They also addressed the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities and the important principle of separation of powers. They discussed the constitutional changes that took place in Turkey, which changed the form of the state and the government system since World War I, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. They mentioned the Treaty of Sèvres which defined the rights of some nationalities within the Ottoman Empire and the Treaty of Lausanne that deprived the Kurds of their rights.
The participants also discussed the 1982 Constitution (the current Constitution), which despite its several amendments, preserved the identity of the Islamic Turkish state. Moreover, they mentioned the 2010 Constitutional Amendment which changed the form of the state from parliamentary to presidential, through a popular referendum and how –for the first time in the history of Turkey– the head of state was elected by the people to become the head of both the executive and legislative authorities.
Furthermore, several topics were addressed; the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the 1923 Constitution and its limitations, as well as the constitution and political participation, inclusion, diversity, and minority rights. Participants argued that the constitution was used as a political tool, and that politicians who wrote the constitution were not interested in it being inclusive, but rather insisted on writing a narrow constitution that would be for the Turkish people only and would not include other diverse groups who live in the country.
领英推荐
In addition, participants discussed the Kurdish issue in Turkey and its connection to the Constitution. Also, how the Kurdish identity challenged the military forces of the Ottoman Empire that considered separatism an inevitable consequence of giving minorities their rights.
Finally, participants agreed that Turkey is not a perfect model, but compared to the Middle East, it has been fairly successful in achieving a peaceful and democratic transition of power.