ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The leader of the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda Par) on Wednesday said that amending the constitution should be a right of members of the parliament, reiterating the need to have a discussion on non-amendable articles.
Huda Par leader Zekeriya Yapicioglu’s comments about Article 4 of the Turkish constitution have sparked political controversy. The lawmaker has said that the article should not be in the constitution, because it “is putting a mortgage on the will of future generations.”
The first three articles of the constitution define Turkey as a democratic, secular, and social republic. It also sets Turkish as the official language of the state, adding that Turkey “with its territory and nation, is an indivisible entity.”
Article 4 states the provisions of the first three articles “shall not be amended, nor shall their amendment be proposed.”
“According to political science and legal science, changing the constitution is the right of members of parliament,” Yapicioglu told Rudaw’s Hevidar Zana. “As an MP, I wanted the points that prevent the amendment of the constitution to be discussed. In particular, I wanted to discuss Article 4, which prevents the amendment of the constitution. After that, the attacks began.”
Following his win in last year’s election, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been openly critical of the constitution and said it is time for a new one.