The First Constitution Of The Republic: 1924 Constitution

In our previous article, we talked about the 1921 Constitution and at the end of our article, we said that the elections were renewed in June-July 1923 and a new Assembly was formed and started to work on 11 August 1923. In this article, we will explain the 1924 Constitution made by the new Parliament.

The newly formed Second Assembly is not a specially elected constituent assembly. However, on March 9, 1924, the Constitutional Council, which was formed within the Assembly, submitted the draft Constitution to the Assembly. Although our new Constitution contains articles from the 1876 Legal Fundamentals and the 1921 Organizational Fundamental Laws, it was inspired by the 1875 French Constitution and the 1921 Polish Constitution. The name of the draft is “Teşkilat-ı Esasiye Kanunu”. The draft was published on April 23, 1924 as 105 articles and entered into force. In this respect, the 1924 Constitution is not a constitution that came into force by popular vote or a referendum, but has the quality of a supreme law.

We can say that the 1924 Constitution is the first Constitution of the Republic. The 1921 Constitution was created under extraordinary war conditions, highlighting the executive, dynamic but when viewed as a constitutional text, it was an inadequate one. Now that the state was established and there was no problem of legitimacy, it was clear that a new Constitution was needed that would set forth the principles, principles and general principles of the new Republic.

With the 1924 Constitution, the 1876 Legal Basis and the 1921 Organization Principles Law were expressly repealed (article 104). The dual constitutional system mentioned in our previous article has been abandoned. The expression "The State of Turkey is a Republic", which was included in the 1st Article of the 1924 Constitution with an amendment to the 1921 Constitution, was preserved, and in Article 102 it was stated that this article could not be changed. In this respect, we can say that the 1924 Constitution is a strict constitution for the content of unalterable provisions. A qualified majority of 2/3 is foreseen for the amendment of the article.

Although we have stated that the extraordinary period has come to an end, the 1924 Constitution reiterated the principles on which the 1921 Constitution was based, such as national sovereignty, parliamentary government, a single parliament, and unity of forces. What is envisaged here is the desire for the rapid realization of the social change that the new Republic will experience. In terms of constitutional principles, let's start by examining the 1924 Organization of Fundamental Law, that is, the Second Constitution:

Supremacy of the Constitution

Although its name is the Teşkilat-ı Esasiye Kanunu, it is clear that the 1924 Constitution is superior to other laws in terms of its content and its place in the norm hierarchy. As a matter of fact, the fact that it contains unchangeable articles and that the changeable articles must be changed with qualified majority makes the Teşkilat-ı Esasiye Law superior and different from other laws.

Definition of Sovereignty:

According to Article 3 of the 1924 Constitution, “sovereignty belongs to the nation” Similar to the 1st article of the 1921 Constitution, the nation is the owner of the sovereignty in the 1924 Constitution. The way in which sovereignty is exercised is given directly to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which is its representative, instead of the people, by Article 4.

Separation of Powers and Government System

In order to evaluate the 1924 Constitution according to the principle of separation of powers, we must analyze the powers, namely the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, and what provisions it contains.

In the 1924 Constitution, the legislative power belongs exclusively to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In fact, this authority has been interpreted in a broad sense and the Parliament has even been given the authority to interpret the law. The parliament has also been made effective on the executive through systems such as election, approval and no-confidence.

According to the 1924 Constitution, the executive body is formed by the President and the Council of Ministers. The President is elected by the Assembly. Although detailed arrangements have been made between the 31st and 45th Articles regarding the President, the powers and responsibilities of the President are not that different from those in any parliamentary system. The President appoints the Prime Minister elected from among the members of the Assembly and approves the Council of Ministers. There is a mixed system. An executive power was designed, inspired by the parliamentary government system and the features of the parliamentary system.

The 1924 Constitution gave jurisdiction to independent courts on behalf of the nation. The parliament's transfer of jurisdiction is an important development. The jurisdiction of the Assembly is limited to the Supreme Court.

Consequently, when we evaluate the 1924 Constitution in terms of the making, implementation and supervision of laws, we see that the principle of separation of powers has not been fully implemented. However, we can say that a distinctive institutionalization has also been put forward with regard to the principle of separation of powers.

Fundamental Rights and Freedoms

The 1924 Constitution adopted the example of France by adopting the natural rights approach inspired by the French revolution. Liberal approach and individual freedom are emphasized. The concept of social state is not included in the Constitution. On the other hand, although it contains very modern and libertarian provisions in terms of fundamental rights and freedoms, the transition to a multi-party democratic order has been delayed for a long time. The fact that the society was newly established, the negativities encountered in the trials and the developments in the world at that time have effects.

After defining the constitutional principles in this way, let us conclude our article by stating two important issues regarding the 1924 Constitution, which remained in force for 37 years.

According to the first version of the 1924 Constitution, the provision "The religion of the Turkish State is Islam" was included in the Constitution. However, with the amendment made in 1928, this provision was removed from the Constitution and "secularism" was added to the qualifications of the State.

Another important change made in the 1924 Constitution is the one made in 1937. The 6 principles of the Republican People's Party (republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism, secularism and revolutionism) were included in the text of the Constitution with the amendment.