Chairman of the Presidential Legal Policies Board and Chief Advisor to the President, Mehmet Uçum, met with members of the press at Çankaya Mansion. Uçum reminded that they hosted the Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek at the Legal Policies Board and said that they discussed Türkiye's new constitutional agenda. Uçum stated that the past intellectual studies on the basic approaches, legal policy perspectives, basic rules and principles of the new constitution will be further developed and said, "The duty of legal policies is to create proposal documents, outcome documents, policy document drafts in the intellectual processes, and to provide a kind of intellectual assistance to the executive processes. The results of our previous studies on the new constitution were presented to the chairman of our board, Mr. President. Our President placed great emphasis on the new constitution in the opening speech of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on October 1. Therefore, "During the remaining period of the 28th term, the issue of the new constitution will begin to be discussed in Turkish politics, perhaps on the agenda of the Parliament, that is, in democratic political channels, beyond general evaluations, perhaps gaining some content," he said.
'THERE HAS BEEN A NEED FOR A NEW CONSTITUTION IN Türkiye FOR 39 YEARS'
Uçum said that there is a need for a new constitution and said, "This need issue cannot be addressed through the needs of politics or the needs of the elites. This need should be considered as the need of the people and should be handled through the demands and needs of the people. Especially before the 2011 elections and even before the 2007 elections, all parties promised a new constitution to the Turkish society, the Turkish nation and the people of Turkey. This promise has been repeated continuously for 15 years until today. The People's Alliance also has the goal of a new constitution within pragmatic approaches; Both MHP and AK Party have a six-party table. They prepared a comprehensive constitutional amendment. Therefore, these democratic political actors and parties are asking, 'Is there a need for a new constitution?' They will probably look for an answer to the question through the tendencies and demands of the people. If you ask me, a new constitution has been needed in Türkiye for 39 years, since the 1982 Constitution was adopted, but since the first amendment was in 1987. "Two thirds of my life have been spent in one way or another in contact with the work on a new and civilian constitution," he said.
'WE ARE GOING TO A PERIOD WHERE DEBATES CAN BE HELD'
Stating that the new constitution has always been on Türkiye's agenda, Uçum said, "Therefore, we are now entering a period in which this ordinary agenda can be increasingly contented and discussions can be held on concrete grounds. My impression from the perspectives and approaches put forward by our President in his speech on October 1st is that the new constitution issue will no longer be a generic discussion area. It will be placed on a basis where more concrete issues are discussed. Therefore, we can predict that the intellectual maturation process of the new constitution may occur in terms of the remaining period of the 28th term. Well, this new constitution will be the 28th term." Of course, there is also the question of whether it can be done in the 28th term. As you know, our President of the Parliament has put forward an approach that a new constitution can be made if desired in this period. Of course, this is not an option that can be ruled out in the 28th term. However, it is possible to make a different assessment. So, the elections in 2028 may be in March or April. It is now largely clear. Can the parties reach an agreement within these 18 months, act within the framework of the 'Great Turkey Consensus' that our President calls it, and work on a new constitution? However, when we look at it, we can see that this period will be a period in which the intellectual work on which parameters, principles, foundations and pillars should be discussed, and perhaps a draft proposal will not emerge, but a broad intellectual acquis regarding the new constitution can be formed more concretely. "After the upcoming elections, having the new constitution drawn up with a high level of consensus and submitted to a referendum in 2029 can now become a very realistic goal," he said.
'A CONSTITUTION MAKING PROCESS THAT STARTS WITH THE PEOPLE AND ENDS WITH THE PEOPLE'
Emphasizing that the new constitution cannot be put into effect without a referendum, Uçum said, "From whom will the representative founding will get the final approval of the constitution it has made in the name of the main founding will? It will be from the people. An amendment to a constitutional amendment that takes place with the approval of more than 400 deputies can be evaluated as to whether or not it should be submitted to a referendum. The President has the authority on that matter. But when a new constitution is made, even if more than 400 deputies accept this constitution; in any case, it will be submitted to a referendum, it will be submitted to the approval of the people. It will start with the people and be submitted to the approval of the people." We are talking about a constitution-making process that ends with the people. As far as I understand and foresee, the goal of the new constitution, which our President put forward on October 1 and has repeatedly emphasized in the past, is also now starting as a construction process. It has started as a construction process as a wish and a political promise in the past. Therefore, when we look at the stages of this construction process, we have an idea for the concretization of the content of the new constitution in the remaining period of the 28th term. "We can predict that this level may emerge and a new constitution may be made in the 29th term," he said.
'THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY DECISION IS EXPECTED BEFORE THE END OF THIS YEAR'
Regarding the 'Terror-Free Turkey' process, Uçum said, "The Law No. 7595 on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration was passed with the acceptance of 467 deputies. This is an extremely important legal regulation in which we have this level of partnership and this level of diversity in our legislative activities, except for a few constitutional amendments. The announcement of the National Security Decision is probably expected before the end of this year. Authorized friends on this subject are making such evaluations. But it seems that the National Security Council decision will be announced before the end of this year." "It is another prediction that all the things to be done in the next 6 months will be implemented, most likely before the first half of the year is completed," he said.
'THIS IS NOT A PRIVILEGMENT'
Regarding the discussions about the status of terrorist organization leader Abdullah Öcalan, Uçum said, "I have said it before. The Disarmament and Politicization Sub-Commission could appoint Öcalan. In other words, this commission appointed Öcalan as a coordinator. This assignment is neither an assignment that changes Öcalan's convict status, nor is it an evaluation that suspends the execution process of Öcalan. His convict status will not change, nor will the execution process be suspended. This assignment will not change the state and the execution process." It is nothing more than a working condition provided for him to fulfill his role in the allocation of terrorism in line with the perspective of integration with the society. Therefore, creating a place for him to work in that place and giving him a job title are the working conditions provided for him to fulfill his role within the framework of integration with the state and society. It should be known that this is not a privilege provided to him. Therefore, such evaluations are provided to Öcalan. "You cannot describe the working conditions as a change in the status of a convict. You cannot evaluate it as a suspension of Öcalan's execution process. You cannot consider it as a privilege provided to Öcalan. Because these are not privileges but minimum conditions for him to fulfill his duty."
'THERE WILL BE DEVELOPMENTS FOR OUR PRESS EMPLOYEES'
Uçum also said that there are studies on the Labor Law on the agenda and said, "In January 2024, at a working life meeting, our President said that the legislation on labor law in Türkiye is very dispersed, that they need to be collected, that there should be unification here, that there are incompatibilities between standards, that different labor laws cause very contradictory results in working life. He said that a 'Turkish Labor Law' should be prepared. For example, the law that our press members are subject to is the Press Labor Law. This law has both very outdated provisions and is compatible with other labor laws." There are very incompatible provisions. On the other hand, there are regulations regarding working life in the Code of Obligations. After our President transformed our draft policy document into a policy document and announced it to the public in January 2024, a study on the 'Turkish Labor Law' was initiated in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor. I believe that the 'Turkish Labor Law' is also a very big issue. "When it is implemented by consensus and with the support of social partners, these different practices, contradictory practices and problematic practices in working life will be eliminated, and there will be very important developments for our press workers," he said.
'2 TERM CONDITION IS PROTECTED'
Uçum stated that there are many drafts regarding the new constitution in Türkiye and said, "In fact, if you take out the main drafts since 1987, there are over 20 drafts. Of course, the duty of the Legal Policies Board is not to make a draft study. In other words, it is not the duty of the Legal Policies Board to write a draft that can turn into a proposal article by article. However, within this framework, we also contributed to such draft studies when there were such draft studies. Is there a change in the eligibility to be elected president? There is no change in any of the drafts I have seen. Also in the drafts I have seen regarding the period. "There is no change. The 2-term requirement is still preserved. Therefore, there is no change in the drafts I have seen, neither in terms of the President's eligibility to be elected nor the term duration," he said.
