The JDP is cleverly pre-empting the military with its plans for a civilian constitution, reports Gareth Jenkins After successfully installing the former foreign minister, Abdullah Gul in the presidency over the protests of the military, Turkey's moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) has now set its sights on introducing a new constitution to replace the one drawn up by the military junta that ruled the country in the early 1980s. On 4 September, JDP Deputy Chairman Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat announced that the initial draft of the constitution had been completed and that it would soon be distributed to academics, the media and NGOs for comments and suggestions prior to being put to a referendum early in 2008. A referendum is already due to be held on 21 October this year to amend the current constitution. The proposed changes include: electing the president by popular vote rather than by parliament as at present; reducing the presidential term from seven to five years; and cutting the maximum parliamentary term from five to four years. However, Firat promised that the new constitution will go even further. "Turkey will have a truly civilian constitution which has been made by the people," he said. "It will be a modern constitution which will meet modern concerns, including measures to protect the environment, guarantees of freedom of expression and animal rights." Ironically, given the JDP's determination to appoint a leading member of its own party as president, leaks to the press suggest that the new constitution will further reduce the already limited powers of the presidency by transferring most of its duties and responsibilities to the prime minister and the cabinet. The new constitution is also expected to make it more difficult to shut down political parties and reduce the influence of the National Security Council (NSC). In the past the NSC was frequently used by the Turkish General Staff (TGS) to apply pressure on the civilian government, most notably in 1997 when a coalition government led by the Islamist Welfare Party (WP) was forced from office and the party eventually banned. But Firat dismissed suggestions that the JDP was trying to take revenge on the military. "You can't formulate a constitution merely by reacting to something else," he said. "If you did, then the process would be unending." Nevertheless, few doubt that over the months ahead the Turkish military will be watching carefully. Despite being outmanoeuvred in its attempts to prevent Gul becoming president, General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the TGS, has already warned that the military remains as committed as ever to protecting the principle of secularism which was enshrined in the Turkish constitution by the republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881- 1938). In late June, Zafer Uskul, a professor of constitutional law and JDP member of parliament who has been involved the drafting of the constitution, created a furor when he declared that he did not believe that a commitment to Ataturk's principles and reforms should be included in the new constitution. "This shows that what they call a civilian constitution is just an attempt to remove Ataturk from the constitution," retorted Zeki Sezer, the chairman of the opposition Democratic Left Party (DLP). The JDP was quick to distance itself from Uskul's remarks. "It was just a statement of his personal opinion," said JDP deputy Salih Kapusuz. "As a party we are not considering such a thing and have made no such decision." Ergun Ozbudun, a professor of constitutional law at Ankara's Bilkent University who was also involved in the preparation of the draft constitution, dismissed secularists' concerns. "The text we have prepared affords a lot more protection to secularism than the current constitution," he emphasised. Ozbudun added that the new draft would also make religious education optional. Although the current constitution maintains that Turkey is a secular state, the military junta that prepared it introduced compulsory religious lessons in an attempt to create an ideological bulwark against the spread of communism. The lessons are entitled 'Information on Religion and Morals'. In practice they are used to teach Sunni Islam, including the memorisation of prayers in Arabic and instructions on how to pray. Compulsory religious education has long been opposed both by Turkey's dwindling non-Muslim minorities and its sizeable Shia Alevi community, who account for around 15 per cent of the country's total population. "The new constitution will remove compulsory religious education," said Ozbudun. "It is not clear yet whether the final draft will enable students to opt in or to opt out of the lessons. But there will definitely be a choice." Firat has also reassured those secularists who are concerned that the constitution will include guarantees on the freedom of dress, which would effectively lift the ban on women wearing Islamic headscarves in universities and state institutions. "I don't think a constitution should tell people what to wear or what not to wear," he said.
