New Constitution: Step by step towards fascism!

"We can act for a new constitution in the coming period," President Erdogan announced after a presidential cabinet meeting on Monday. Following this statement, a new debate began about what Erdogan was aiming for with the suggestion of a 'new constitution'.

Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul says Erdogan's announcement of a new constitution is "exciting news". Apparently, Erdogan's statement came as a surprise to ministers and to the AKP leadership!

Of course, that's no wonder. Because in the new regime, ministers and advisers exist only for 'consultation'. 'One man' makes the decisions!

After Erdogan's suggestion of 'a new constitution', there were various reactions from opposition parties in parliament, such as "This statement is aimed at changing the public agenda", "The statement means an admission that the Presidential System is not functioning", or "The AKP is unreliable for the new constitution due to its notorious record".

Abdulkadir Selvi, the most ardent advocate of the government, asking in his column in Hurriyet newspaper in order to put pressure on the opposition in his wisdom: "Will the opposition support making a new and civil constitution? Will the country be governed by a coup constitution?"

Those who recently tried to make the opposition's work on the new constitution look like "treason" over Umit Ozdag's statements, in the recent days, are now shamelessly asking: "Will the opposition support the civilian constitution against the coup constitution?"

The truth is Erdogan is not curious about what the opposition has to say about the new constitution. He says: "If we come to an agreement with our coalition partner in the People's Alliance, we can act for a new constitution in the coming period." Because, as in the 'Presidential System of Government', which is opposed by at least half of the public and was adopted in a shady referendum, Erdogan is not interested in the needs of this country and its people, but the needs of his own government and the capitalist circles he represents!

First of all, it is important to note that since the last two constitutions in Turkey (the Constitutions of 1961 and 1982) were made during the coup periods, discussions of the "civil constitution" are usually held on the basis of democratization. Therefore, the government is aiming to create expectations today in those who still tend to see Erdogan as a representative of "civil society" in the face of the repressive-bureaucratic old-guard centre through the rhetoric of "civil constitution against the coup constitution".

In the meantime, let's not forget the last two constitutional referendums put forward by AKP and Erdogan in the name of changing the coup constitution. The first is the September 12, 2010 referendum, which, together with their then de-facto coalition partner, the Gulenists, was held to seize the judiciary and to be exploited for their political aims. The second was the Presidential System referendum of 16 April 2017, which gave away the legislature, judiciary and executive to one man.

You see, the fact that they were made by "civilians" does not make these changes "democratic", and does not change the fact that they were made with the goal of building a repressive-authoritarian regime in a way that is no different from the periods of coup.

That is why Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which expressed "our idea is in power" for the September 12th military fascist coup, unwaveringly supports Erdogan's call for a new constitution. He says: "A constitution that places the basic building blocks of the new governance system first to further develop its indispensable principles and fundamentals is the need that cannot be postponed."

Why is a new constitution needed?

For the elimination of some obstacles and setbacks to the functioning of central, authoritarian, repressive one-man power, namely for the establishment of a more repressive regime!

A "civilian" constitution made by a government, which has put lawmakers in jail, appointed trustees to municipalities, has not implemented the decisions of the Constitutional Court, which does not recognise the international conventions it has signed, which eliminates the right to strike, which calls the students, who do not want an appointed but an elected rector, terrorists, with its coalition partner, which declares the Kurdish party a "swarm of pests that needs to be exterminated".

It is clear that what they want is a constitution aimed at eliminating the obstacles to the fascist regime that is meant to be built!

As a result, Erdogan, who tried to divide the opposition parties from within under the guise of meetings for alliances with visits to the leaders of these parties, is now trying to rally his weakened mass support for the construction of a fascist regime with a move to "civil constitution against the coup constitution".

Therefore, it is political blindness, if it is not sheer recklessness, to try to explain this move with "changing the agenda", "accepting that the Presidential System does not work" or "the fact that the government has a poor record on the matter of constitution"!

On the other hand, as in Kilicdaroglu's call for "common sense" to the families of Bogazici University students who are fighting for a democratic university; it is not possible to prevent this course of action with an opposition mentality that sees "provocation" rather than the dynamics of the struggle to establish a democratic country, wherever there is a democratic reaction from the people or protest for rights!