Erdogan: Current Constitution Cannot Sustain the New Türkiye

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on Monday following a cabinet meeting in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on Monday following a cabinet meeting in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency)
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Erdogan: Current Constitution Cannot Sustain the New Türkiye

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on Monday following a cabinet meeting in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks on Monday following a cabinet meeting in Ankara. (Turkish Presidency)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his resolve to draft a new constitution for the country, saying the one in force after the military coup of 1980 cannot sustain the new Türkiye.

“It's not possible for the current constitution to sustain Türkiye anymore,” Erdogan said following a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday.

“Despite all the amendments introduced to the current constitution, we have not been able to eliminate the spirit of guardianship that the coup plotters have injected into it,” he said.

“The Turkish democracy should settle old scores with the tradition of coups by adopting a new and civil constitution,” he added.

Erdogan also stressed that he does not want a new constitution for himself. “Türkiye needs this. This is what our nation needs. Future generations deserve to be governed by a liberal constitution,” he said.

After being re-elected to a new and final presidential term in May 2023, Erdogan pledged to introduce a new liberal civil constitution to replace the current one, which according to him, is “a product of the (1980) coup.”

His insistence raises concerns that the move will help him cement his power indefinitely by allowing him to run for president again in the 2028 elections.

On Tuesday, Erdogan welcomed a Turkish court sentence of ex-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, to 42 years in prison and HDP's former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag to 30 years and three months for their alleged involvement in the Kobani protests in 2014.

The protesters in Türkiye’s mainly Kurdish southeast accused the Turkish army of standing by as ISIS militants besieged Kobani in plain view just across the Syrian border in October 2014. The protests led to the deaths of 37 people.

Speaking at the appointment ceremony of judges and public prosecutors, Erdogan said: “Ten years after the insurrection attempt, we see that justice has been served, albeit late, and we are pleased with this.”

He dismissed the sharp criticism of the judiciary for the overblown rulings in the case and called them politicized.

“We know well, especially from our experience, the damage caused by political and ideological polarization in the judicial system. We won't let that happen again,” he said.

The Kobani trial involved 24 convicted politicians among 108 defendants, who were sentenced to a combined 407 years and seven months in prison.



Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
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Slovenia Declares Two Israeli Ministers Persona Non Grata

Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset members Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich attend a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)

Slovenia declared two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, persona non grata on Thursday, the first European Union country to do so, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said.

The government accused Israel's national security minister Ben-Gvir and finance minister Smotrich - both West Bank settlers - of making "genocidal statements" and inciting violence against Palestinians.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel's government which has regularly rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, and says it is acting in self-defense following the deadly October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas gunmen.

Fajon said Slovenia had decided to make the move after EU foreign ministers did not agree on joint action against Israel over charges of human rights violations at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

"Today, the government adopted one of the first national measures, which is to declare two Israeli ministers... unwanted in the Republic of Slovenia," Fajon told a news conference.

"This kind of measure is the first of its kind in the European Union. We are breaking new ground," she said. Other measures were being prepared, she added, without going into detail.

Slovenia's government issued a statement saying the ministers "publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced evictions of Palestinians, and call for violence against the civilian Palestinian population".

Last year, Slovenia recognized an independent Palestinian state.

In June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, imposed sanctions on the two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians.

Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023 in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies, and 251 people were taken to Gaza and held hostage.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.