President Erdoğan invites everyone to contribute to new constitution

ANKARA- Anadolu Agency

Following the announcement of a possible new constitution, Turkey’s president welcomed on Feb. 3 everyone who wish to contribute to drafting of the new constitution.

“Such a comprehensive work will become meaningful with the involvement of all groups in the country,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his ruling AKP’s provincial congresses via video link from the party's headquarters.

Erdoğan said Monday that if AKP reaches consensus with its partner in People's Alliance, then an "action for drafting a new constitution in the upcoming period" was possible.

“We would like to see all groups, who would like to make positive contributions to the process, in the efforts for the new constitution,” Erdoğan noted.

He said the constitution will be built on “historical initiatives” the AKP has taken for the country, especially the presidential system.

Erdoğan emphasized that leaving aside a constitution which has lost its integrity and consistency due to changes over the years, and working on a new constitution would pave the way for Turkey to reach its aims spanning long years ahead.

Welcoming the support by Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), for a new constitution, Erdoğan said they will pioneer the process together with MHP under their People's Alliance.

On Tuesday, Bahçeli said Turkey is "obligated" to replace its current constitution. He said the country's constitution in its present form was the "product of extraordinary conditions".

‘No more Gezi Park events’

On demonstrations in Istanbul against the recent appointment of Boğaziçi University's new rector, Erdoğan said: “We do not accept those young people, who are members of the terror groups, as the young people of our country who have true national and moral values.”

Protests erupted after the appointment of Mehmet Bulu, with a group of students calling for his resignation.

Stating that those who tried to “occupy” rector’s room were not students but terrorists, Erdoğan said they will not allow terrorists to rule in Turkey.

“This country will no longer experience and sustain a Gezi [Park] event in Taksim,” Erdoğan stressed, reiterating Ankara’s resolute stance against terrorism.

In the summer of 2013, a small number of demonstrations in Istanbul’s Gezi Park grew into a nationwide wave of protests against the government that left eight protesters and a police officer dead.

The government later said the protests were orchestrated by FETÖ terror group members.

FETÖ and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people killed and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETÖ of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.