Erdogan mobilised judges to write a new constitution

“Since yesterday, I have appointed 10 legal experts to start their work, and with this effort, we will continue preparations for the new constitution,” has said Erdogan before local managers of his ruling party, the AP reports.

It is known that the Turkish president, who has been leading the country since 2014, has supported the idea of the new constitution, arguing that the current constitution ʹ drafted after the 1980 military coup has been outdated and preserves elements of military influence, even though there have been several changes.

However, under the current constitution, Erdogan cannot run for president again unless early elections are called or the legal framework is changed. Therefore, his bid to create a new constitution is seen as a possible way to bypass the constitutional restrictions of mandates and enable his future candidacy.

We remember that a week ago, Erdogan, with an increasingly authoritarian approach, denied that he wants the new constitution in order to stay more in power himself, saying that the “new constitution we do not want for ourselves, but for our country”.

However, it is known that Erdogan's ruling party and its nationalist allies do not have the votes needed to adopt a new constitution. Therefore, there are some analysts who believe that even the government's recent efforts to end the decades-long conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are part of a strategy to ensure the support of a pro-Kurdish party in parliament for the new constitutional charter.

The effort to establish a new constitution comes just months after the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul's popular chairman and an important rival of Erdogan. Imamoglu was arrested on charges of corruption, though his arrest is seen as politically motivated and has sparked numerous protests across the country in search of his release.