CHP will not discuss new constitution with AKP: Kılıçdaroğlu

HANDE FIRAT - ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has rejected calls by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to join the ruling party’s efforts to write a brand new civilian constitution unless the amendment envisages shifting back to the strengthened parliamentary system.

“We will never negotiate the constitutional amendments with the AK Party because doing so means giving legitimacy to the authoritarian rule,” Kılıçdaroğlu told the daily Hürriyet in an interview on Oct 7.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) should first declare that they want to abandon the current executive-presidential system, which has been in place since mid-2018, he said, stressing that Erdoğan’s main objective is not changing the charter but the political agenda.

In a statement on the opening of parliament last week, Erdoğan informed that his AKP is about to conclude drafting the new constitution and called on all parties to do the same for a compromised civilian charter before the end of this legislative year.

Both the constitution and rule of law have already been suspended in Turkey and the president wants to divert people’s attention from economic difficulties, Kılıçdaroğlu stated. “Erdoğan does not need a constitutional amendment. Everything he says is becoming law anyway,” he added.

The current system has left the country’s fate to what one person has to say and that caused deterioration in all the fields, the main opposition leader argued, saying, “Erdoğan is happy with the system. He is detached from the reality.”

Having said he will not discuss the new constitution with the AKP, Kılıçdaroğlu underlined that he could do so if the AKP would agree to return to the parliamentary system, defuse the political tension and create an environment where all the different groups can express their views.

When asked what he meant by defusing the tension, Kılıçdaroğlu claimed that Erdoğan would like to enjoy escalation in order to consolidate larger groups around his government. “We should be away from the tension. The other side will try to escalate it,” he suggested, expressing his concerns about political assassinations.