New constitution to be best gift to nation on Turkey’s centennial: President

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish president on Friday urged all political parties in parliament to share their drafts for a new constitution.

"A new constitution, which will be prepared with the consensus of our assembly, if possible, will be the best gift we can give to our nation in 2023 [on the centennial of the republic]," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the opening of the new legislative session of the parliament.

Erdogan expressed hope that political parties in the parliament will soon share their drafts.

"We launched the initiative [on a new constitution], we are making our preparations," he said.

The current Turkish Constitution was made after a military coup in 1980, and Erdogan has been pushing for a new constitution to be drafted under civilian rule.

Earlier this year, the Turkish president urged all political parties to be part of the process, a call backed by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of the Justice and Development (AK) Party in the People’s Alliance.

Erdogan recently said the AK Party plans to make public its draft for a new civilian constitution in early 2022.