Erdoğan's AKP poised to announce new draft constitution

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The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has completed a 130-article draft constitution, pro-government daily Hürriyet reported.

The AKP will convey the draft constitution to its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) next month and plans to disclose it to the public in January, according to the report.

Over the past months, President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been calling for a new constitution.

In early May, MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli announced that they had prepared a 100-article draft constitution and submitted it to the AKP.

The new constitution will be one of the main election promises of the AKP, the Hürriyet reported. The party will organize "Anatolia meetings" to promote the new constitution, it said. The next parliamentary and presidential elections are scheduled for June 2023.

The AKP's draft constitution intends to strengthen the relations between the parliament and MPs and they will answer questions by deputies in the parliament every month, according to Hürriyet.

Also, it will allow 500,000 people to submit a law proposal, Hürriyet said.

Turkey's current Constitution was prepared by the military government that took over in 1980 and approved by a referendum in 1982. About two-thirds of the articles of the Constitution have been amended since then.

During the AKP's rule, three major amendments were made to the constitution with referendums in 2007, 2011, and 2017. The country switched to a presidential system after the 2017 referendum.

(AS/VK)