Guest Editors’ Introduction: Symposium on the Centenary of 1921 Constitution: Hundred Years of Constitutional Transformation in Turkey

Serkan Yolcu and Barış Bahçeci

Izmir University of Economics.

On 20 January 2021, Turkey celebrated the hundredth anniversary of its 1921 Constitution (Teşkilat-ı Esasiye Kanunu). Among its several peculiarities, it was the first republican constitution of modern Turkey, enacted by the first Grand National Assembly of Turkey/GNAT (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) established in April 1920. The draft constitution was introduced in the Assembly in September 1920 and adopted on 20 January 1921 after long and heated discussions. With only twenty-three provisions (plus a provisional article), it is the shortest Turkish constitution. Accordingly, it deserves attention for its rich content, rather than its superficial appearance. 

The emergence of the 1921 Constitution coincided with the process of dividing the Ottoman Empire into nation states, shaping the population of countries by mutual exchanges, as well as establishing borders and constitutional regimes. Thus, the period in which the 1921 Constitution was introduced and applied presents a rich laboratory for comparative constitutional scholarship regarding fundamental concepts such as nationalism, republicanism, human rights and freedoms, the restructuring of political power, organization of the judiciary and the government system, as well as identity issues related to citizenship status. Within this broad framework, our aim is to present a perspective to the current constitutional debates by revealing the facts and ideas of this constitutional era. Our approach to this hundred-year-old constitution, however, is neither limited to a purely legal analysis, nor a heavy theory-based examination. Rather, for a comprehensive analysis, we intend to adopt an inter-disciplinary constitutional analysis. In this respect, a group of distinguished scholars, travelling back in time, and through space to the age of the 1921 Constitution, will participate in the symposium with six posts on its main features.  

First, we need to focus on the facts that determined the revolutionary nature of this era, starting with the convening of the GNAT in Ankara on the 23rd April 1920, and continuing until the 1924 Constitution, which replaced the 1921 Constitution. Here we may see the three fundamental factors which distinguished the 1921 Constitution: its focus on nationalism, republicanism and democracy. The nationalist basis emerged from the fact that this constitution was drafted during the Turkish Independence War after the occupation of the country following the defeat of the Ottoman state in World War I. Thus, the Ottoman Constitution of 1876, written for a multinational empire, would be replaced by a nation-state constitution. In this state of war, the second factor is that the Ottoman sultan and his government were collaborating with the occupying forces, which gave rise to republican sentiments for the establishment of the state. The constitution is, thus, a cornerstone of the shift of the Turkish state from a monarchy to a republic. Third, despite these extraordinary conditions, the constitution-making process took place in a liberal environment, within which representatives enjoyed the right to freedom of expression and owed their title of Member of Parliament (mebus) to no particular leader or a party. Accordingly, the 1921 Constitution is a unique example of constitution-making, in the sense that it illustrates the founders’ bid for legality in order to maintain the legitimacy of their actions. In this regard, the symposium begins with an explanation of the revolutionary nature of the 1921 Constitution by Şule Özsoy Boyunsuz.   

The second important feature of the 1921 Constitution is that it did not explicitly abolish the Ottoman Constitution of 1876, which, technically speaking, remained in force until the 1924 Constitution explicitly declared it invalid. However, during this period, its validity was limited to provisions that did not contradict the 1921 Constitution. This interesting feature was a result of the ambivalent situation in Ankara. Indeed, some members of the new National Assembly convened in Ankara were the representatives in the last Ottoman parliament (Meclis-i Mebusan), who fled there after the occupation of Istanbul. The other members of the National Assembly were determined by an election from the provinces in the country. The double-constitutional development which spanned from 1921 to 1924 included crucial steps such as the establishment of a new legislative assembly (1920), the abolition of the dynasty after the war (1922), the declaration of the republic (1923) and finally, the abolition of the caliphate and the expulsion of the Ottoman dynasty. The reasons and various effects of this “double-constitution period” will be subject to scrutiny in the second post written by Nilay Arat & Aslı Topukçu. 

Third, it is necessary to evaluate the 1921 Constitution within the constitutional debates continuing today. Although three other constitutions were made after 1921, none allowed the full consolidation of democracy, and the centenary as a whole has been characterised by multiple legal shifts and intense fluctuations. In this regard, the centenary of the 1921 Constitution is the perfect opportunity to examine the impact of the last one hundred years of democratic constitutionalism from various perspectives. In this context, the 1921 Constitution symbolizes the first big constitutional break-through of Ottoman-Turkish constitutionalism, as it introduced a new notion of sovereignty, which has been maintained until very recently. Moreover, contrary to the subsequent constitutional changes, the 1921 Constitution was made in a democratic environment by the GNAT, with a remarkable extent of ethnic, class and ideological diversity among its members. It is indeed considered the most democratic founding document of Turkish constitutionalism, given the environment of robust deliberation within which the making process occurred. The legacy of 1921, and its comparison with the 16 April 2017 amendments (which represent the second major constitutional breakthrough in Turkey) carries relevance when examining issues of democratic decay which have arisen in Turkey’s recent history. Discussing the century between these events may help to trace how Turkish constitutionalism has transformed from this foundational moment to the current practice of abusive constitutionalism, reflecting changes in the preferences of society. This issue will be examined in the third post by Demirhan Burak Çelik. 

Fourth, the government system established by the 1921 Constitution also deserves attention, given that one of the significant choices of this constitution was a government system in which both legislative and executive powers were exercised by the GNAT, whose speaker also acted as the head of state. This was not only a deliberate choice, but also a consequence of political necessity. In this regard, it was a system based on a fusion of powers and undivided sovereignty represented by the National Assembly. Therefore, it is worth examining the normative basis of this sui generis government system in the light of political reality, as well as discussing the constitutional amendment in 1923, which changed the government system and proclaimed the Republic. Ahmet Mert Duygun & Işıl Kurnaz will open the debate on this topic in the fourth post of the symposium. 

Fifth, one of the main characteristics of the 1921 Constitution is the principle of the supremacy of the assembly. Indeed, it had the GNAT at its core, and this assembly is the body that holds the political-legal power as a whole. The National Assembly claims sovereignty from the monarchy in the name of the nation, its army fights an independence war, and its constitution regulates these efforts. The supremacy of the assembly, in this context, is a principle that serves to further the democratization of politics and the legitimation of “the new law of the land.” Oğuzhan Bekir Keskin will explain this phenomenon in the fifth post of the symposium. 

Finally, the symposium will conclude with an examination of a much-neglected aspect of the centenary, namely, gender equality. In this context, Zülfiye Yılmaz & Barış Bahçeci’s contribution will focus on the constitutional status of women, who, at the time of the constitutional drafting, were excluded from the process. Moreover, the legislature that made the 1921 Constitution refused to recognize both women’s legal equality, and their right to vote and be elected, despite its direction towards the abolition of privileged status. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the ideas of citizenship, equality, and secular law that developed in this period would form the basis of a series of rights granted to women in the following years.  

In this post, we have provided a roadmap for our symposium. It is our hope not only to reopen a long-neglected page from the legal history, but also to emphasise that while the centenary of the declaration of the Republic in 2023 is approaching, it is time to reconsider the almost forgotten features behind modern Turkey’s first and only example of democratic constitution-making experience. Given that Turkey’s current dystopic constitutionalism is full of uncertainties at the time of writing this piece, there can be no doubt that the legacy of 1921 Constitution is more relevant than ever. This symposium marks only the beginning of efforts to recall what the founding fathers of Turkey created a century ago; much more is yet to come. 

Serkan Yolcu is an Assistant Professor at Izmir University of Economics, Faculty of Law. 

Barış Bahçeci is an Associate Professor at Izmir University of Economics, Faculty of Law.  

Suggested Citation: Serkan Yolcu and Barış Bahçeci, 'Guest Editors’ Introduction: Symposium on the Centenary of 1921 Constitution: Hundred Years of Constitutional Transformation in Turkey’ IACL-AIDC Blog (2 March 2021) https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/centenary-of-the-turkish-constitution/2021/3/2/guest-editors-introduction-symposium-on-the-centenary-of-1921-constitution-hundred-years-of-constitutional-transformation-in-turkey.