Constitution adopted in referendum under state of emergency would be illegitimate: HDP

ANKARA

AA photo

Any constitution adopted under Turkey’s ongoing state of emergency would not be legitimate, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) spokesperson Ayhan Bilgen said on Nov. 29, addressing party members at parliament. 

Bilgen noted that citizens remain in the dark about the content of the government’s planned constitutional draft, stressing that such a method is not democratic. 

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are acting together in a “nationalist understanding” reminiscent of the 1970s, Bilgen said, adding that the MHP and the AKP aimed to establish a new right-wing “nationalist front” in Turkey.   

“The constitutional change, whose text you still dare not declare, will not be legitimate if you pass it under the state of emergency,” Bilgen stated, likening the planned new charter to the 1982 constitution passed after the 1980 military coup. The 1982 constitution received support from nearly 90 percent of voter but its legitimacy was deeply questioned.