Abstract:

All Constitutions written in Turkey have had some serious sociological, political and judicial problems including the last one drawn up in 1982. Constitutions in Turkey have generally been established following military coups and therefore have some features that can be positioned against democratic values. As known, the political power which founded the Turkish Republic was strongly against the idea of commoners being passive subjects of the Ottoman rulers. Furthermore, they firmly believed that this situation had to be transcended. To this end, instead of a “subject” the concept of citizenship was endorsed. However, upon analysis, it is observed that trying to substitute an active citizen profile instead of a passive one could not quite be accomplished. In contrast to the Ottomans, in the history of the Turkish Republic, it is difficult to affirm the notion that sovereignty was based on democracy. The relationship between rulers and subjects evolved to form the basis of the constitution and citizenship in the Republic of Turkey. The citizen, who was defined by constitutions, has not been able to go beyond representing a certain group. In recent years, however, with the influence of the global conjuncture, both at the state level and in the public sphere, there is a consensus to construct a social deal, i.e. a new constitution embracing human rights. This article, aims to assess the constitution and citizenship taking into consideration some developments regarding democracy and human rights in Turkey.

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