Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday he has appointed a team of 10 legal scholars to begin drafting a new constitution, renewing his longstanding call to replace the current charter, which was put into force following a 1980 military coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Speaking to local officials from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan reiterated his government’s intention to replace what he called a “coup-era constitution” with a more democratic, civilian version.
“As of yesterday, I have tasked 10 legal scholars to start preparations,” he said. “Through this effort, we will continue to advance our work toward a new constitution.”
“For 23 years, we have consistently expressed our intention to crown our democracy with a civilian and liberal constitution.”
According to Anadolu, the constitutional reform commission will be led by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. Other members include senior AKP officials: Deputy Chairs Efkan Ala and Mustafa Elitaş; Vice Chairs Hayati Yazıcı and Ali İhsan Yavuz; party spokesperson Ömer Çelik; parliamentary group chair Abdullah Güler; and deputy group chairs Özlem Zengin, Muhammet Emin Akbaşoğlu and Bahadır Yenişehirlioğlu.
The commission is expected to begin meetings in the coming days and continue through the summer. Erdoğan is expected to attend some sessions personally.
Concerns over presidential term limits
Turkey’s current constitution, drafted under military rule in 1982, has long been criticized for its authoritarian elements. While Erdoğan insists that his push for reform is aimed at democratization, opposition leaders and analysts have expressed skepticism, suspecting the new charter could pave the way for an extension of Erdoğan’s presidency.
Under the existing presidential system, introduced in a 2017 referendum, a president can serve two five-year terms. Erdoğan was first elected in 2014 under the old parliamentary system, and again in 2018 and 2023 under the new executive presidency. Legal experts are divided over whether a third term under the revised system would require a constitutional amendment or a snap election, which would effectively reset the term count.
Changing the constitution would require a three-fifths parliamentary majority, 360 out of 600 seats, to trigger a referendum, or a two-thirds supermajority of 400 votes for direct adoption. The AKP and its far-right allies currently lack the numbers for either option, making any constitutional overhaul dependent on opposition support.
Although Erdoğan previously said ahead of the March 2024 local elections that he would not seek another term in office, speculation about a third bid intensified after a public rally in January 2025, when he signaled he might run again.
Institutional changes and human rights concerns
During his more than two decades in power, Erdoğan has overseen sweeping institutional reforms, including the shift from a parliamentary to a presidential system. Critics argue this transformation has eroded judicial independence, curtailed checks and balances and centralized power in the presidency.
Rights groups and opposition leaders have accused Erdoğan of using the judiciary to suppress political rivals. Most recently, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s strongest political rival and the opposition presidential candidate, was arrested in March and remains in pretrial detention on charges broadly seen as politically motivated.
The incident triggered economic repercussions, including a sharp drop in the Turkish lira and a reported $40 billion intervention by Turkey’s central bank, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.