The Revolutionary Constitution of 1921

Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz

Galatasaray University

Following the occupation of capital İstanbul by Allied forces in November 1918 and the occupation of Anatolia by Greek troops in 1919, after the Ottomans were defeated in the First World War together with the other central powers, the national resistance movement started in the land soon to be declared as Turkey. The leader of the national resistance, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, united the national forces within Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti (Association for the Defense of Rights), declared Ankara the new political center, and assembled an elected parliament, Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Turkish Grand National Assembly/TGNA) in April 1920. From the beginning, the TGNA was an assembly with extraordinary powers. It was, in fact, a constituent assembly, such that it enacted the first republican constitution, Teşkilat-ı Esasiye Kanunu (Basic Establishment Act/the 1921 Constitution) even before the declaration of the Republic in 1923, liberated the country from foreign occupation, and dissolved the sultanate.  

It is generally accepted that the 1921 Constitution was the result of the most democratic constitution-making process in Turkish history. It was crafted by an elected constituent assembly in which different groups and ideologies were not only present, but also actively participated. As such, the 1921 Constitution represents an exception in Ottoman-Turkish constitutional history. It was unprecedented: a revolution made by an elected constituent assembly. While women, peasants, and laborers were not represented in the first TGNA, it can nevertheless be argued that the first TGNA represented the national will at that time and place. It comprised deputies from two different elections: the election for the last Ottoman Assembly of 1919, and an election conducted under the supervision of the national resistance movement in 1920. In the 1919 election, deputies of the last Ottoman Assembly were elected from Ottoman political party lists, but their own parliament failed under the pressure of the Allied forces, and was later dissolved by Sultan Vahdettin. Deputies of the last Ottoman Assembly were invited to join the TGNA, and a considerable number of deputies answered this historic call. In the 1920 election, 337 deputies representing sixty-six districts were elected, from different ethnic and ideological backgrounds that included revolutionary nationalists, moderate nationalists, socialists/communists/Bolsheviks, and moderate and stronger conservatives, including Islamist monarchists. Even though various political groups and a strong opposition were formed in the Assembly, the first TGNA denied the creation of political parties during the independence war. Considering that polarization and partisanship among political parties greatly damaged national unity before and during the great war, the leaders of the national resistance accepted the existence of different groups, views and identities in the assembly for the sake of a free country, but delayed the emergence of political parties for several years until the end of war.  

The draft constitution was prepared by the council of ministers in the form of a legislative proposal, and sent to the general assembly. The general assembly debated legal and procedural problems related to the proposal, and decided to send it to an ad hoc special commission as a document comprising 31 articles. The commission that worked on the draft divided it into two parts: the “program of populism” (halkçılık programı) and “the Basic Establishment Act (1921 Constitution)”. The program of populism was a declaration of political purposes and views rather than being normative. Therefore, it was separated from the constitutional rules and declared as a government program reflecting anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist, left populist ideas, as well as civil control over the military. The latter part became the actual constitution and made the revolutionary choice of unconditional sovereignty of the nation, marking a significant break with the imperial and monarchical past.   

The 1921 Constitution was very short, with its 23 articles and a provisional article. It did not regulate the judiciary or codify basic rights. However, it declared certain principles indicating a major transformation from the Ottoman past of theocratic monarchy towards a secular republic. Article 1 of the Constitution stated that “sovereignty is vested upon the nation without condition. Governmental system is based on a principle according to which people determine their fate actively and effectively.”  This article rejected the theocratic monarchic sovereignty established in articles 3 and 4 of the 1876 Ottoman Constitution. It took the sovereignty from the Caliphate Sultan, and gave it exclusively to the people alone. The legitimacy of the TGNA government came from the will of the people, rather than theocratic or traditional sources. Sovereignty of the nation meant a democratic, and inevitably secular source of legitimacy for the new government in Ankara. The second sentence of Article 1 also indicated the principle of government by the people. By declaring that principle the TGNA rejected the foreign occupation and defended the nation’s right to self-determination together with a democratic government. In other words, it was a manifestation of the TGNA’s will to form an independent sovereign state governed democratically. Hence article 3 of the 1921 Constitution stated that “The State of Turkey is governed by the Grand National Assembly and its government is titled as the Government of Grand National Assembly.”  This was an open declaration of a new, modern state called “Turkey”.  

Looking at those two articles alone, one might think that the new secular republic had already been openly declared. Yet it did not happen quite so swiftly. There were monarchists and Islamists in that assembly, and Mustafa Kemal had to win a war. To achieve that goal, Kemal had to unite all political groups under a single banner. He therefore refrained from openly spelling out the secular republic, despite the fact that secular and democratic sovereignty was the source of legitimacy for the new government. After winning the war, it took sixteen years and, among other things, a new constitution (1924) for the TGNA to declare Turkey as a secular country in 1937. However, the principle that the first article of that constitution declared in 1921 was the first step of a revolution that was to be completed in 1937. It was a revolutionary process blended with state and nation formation. It was also the first trial of true democracy and democratic constitution making. Such was its importance that the first sentence of the 1921 Constitution remained intact in all the future republican constitutions, even though they were less democratic in their creation than the 1921 Constitution. 

Another unique aspect of the 1921 Constitution was its choice of political system. As the national will could only be represented by the TGNA, constitutionally, this choice meant accepting the supremacy of parliament (fusion of powers) over the separation of powers doctrine, and the assembly government system. The constitution concentrated constitutional powers in the assembly. The assembly held executive, legislative and even judicial authority. According to the theory of the assembly government system, unlike a parliamentary government, ministers do not form a homogenous body having a single political program, and are bound by the directives of the assembly. There is also no need for a separate head of state. This task had to be fulfilled by the speaker of the TGNA, at that time, Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Similarly, under the assembly government system of the 1921 Constitution, there was no separate executive organ. Ministers were selected individually by the assembly, and called ministers of TGNA and the assembly always had the power to amend or annul their decisions. Executive authorities were considered agents who took orders from the assembly.   

Importantly, the assembly was to be convened at all times. No power to dissolve parliament was constitutionally codified. These norms were accepted as a reaction to the past experiences of the reign of Sultan Abdülhamit and İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress). Assemblies were either dispersed or dissolved whenever autocracy thrived in Turkey; the republican constitutional tradition flourished on the principle of the assembly staying strong and convened.   

This period illustrates that under the 1921 Constitution, there were none of the typical institutional choices of authoritarian periods in Ottoman-Turkish constitutional history, such as executive powers of assembly dissolution, decrees having the force of law, weakened assembly, weakened checks and balances. On the contrary, the first TGNA was a strong assembly. There were different political groups, views, and identities present, and deputies were able to act as checks and balances for ministers, as well as the speaker Mustafa Kemal Pasha.   

The 1921 Constitution and its assembly government proved to be transitional/temporary as it was replaced by the 1924 Constitution. However, it gave birth to a republican tradition of secular and democratic sovereignty exercised by a strong parliament in the name of a free and independent Turkish Nation. 

Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz is a full professor of constitutional law at Galatasaray University, Faculty of Law. 

Suggested citation: Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz, ‘The Revolutionary Constitution of 1921’ IACL-AIDC Blog (4 March 2021) https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/centenary-of-the-turkish-constitution/2021/3/4/the-revolutionary-constitution-of-1921.