Turkish Constitution of 1921
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: |
تشکیلات اساسیه قانونی Teşkilât-ı Esâsiye Kanunu |
| Abbreviation: | TEK |
| Number: | 85 |
| Type: | Constitution |
| Scope: |
Ottoman Empire Republic of Turkey |
| Adoption date: | January 20, 1921 |
| Official Journal : | No. 1 of February 7, 1921, p. 1 ff. ( PDF file; 230 KB ) |
| Last change by: | G. No. 364 of October 29, 1923 |
| Effective date of the last change: |
October 29, 1923 |
| Expiry: | May 24, 1924 |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version . | |
The Turkish Constitution of 1921 ( Turkish 1921 Anayasası ) was passed as Law No. 85 by the still young Grand National Assembly. The principle of popular sovereignty was regulated in Article 1, with the sultanate and the caliphate initially remaining unaffected. The National Assembly renounced the principle of the separation of powers in favor of a unit of power embodied by it (kuvvetler birliği) .
The provisional “short” or “framework constitution” ( çerçeve anayasa ) did not override the Ottoman constitution , which had actually been in effect again since 1908 , so that in this context a “double constitutional period ” (iki anayasalı dönem) is spoken of. However, it was considered that the provisions of Law No. 85 in accordance with the principle of " lex posterior derogat legi priori " broke those of the Ottoman Constitution if the two constitutions represented different views. With Article 104 of the Constitution of April 20, 1924 , both Law No. 85 and the Ottoman Constitution were repealed.
History of origin
As a result of the defeat in World War I and the Allied occupation policy based on the Mudros armistice , a resistance movement formed under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha . On April 23, 1920, an "alternative parliament" - the Great National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi) - was created in Ankara .
A constitutional committee (Hukuk-ı or Kânûn-ı Esâsisiye Encümeni) is first mentioned in a session report (Zabıt Ceridesi) of the Grand National Assembly on May 15, 1920. The draft prepared by this committee, entitled Büyük Millet Meclisi'nin Şekil ve Mahiyetine Dair Mevadd-ı Kanuniye , was rejected on August 22, 1920. On September 18, 1920, discussions began on the draft law on basic organization (Teşkilât-ı Esâsiye Kanunu Lâyihası) . The draft was hotly debated in parliament because it was not clear whether it was a constitution or rather a government program. Finally, on September 25, 1920, the draft was forwarded to a twelve-member ad hoc special committee (Encümen-i Mahsus) . The revised draft was presented on November 18, 1920 by the MP for Burdur , İsmail Suphi Bey , and adopted on January 20, 1921 after about two months of deliberation.
content
General provisions
In the first section (Articles 1–9), basic provisions were codified. The popular sovereignty recorded in Art. 1 was significant.
“ Hâkimiyet bilâ kayd ü şart milletindir. "
"State authority is unrestricted and unconditional to the nation."
This sentence can still be found unchanged in the Turkish constitution today (apart from the Turkishization of the vocabulary through the Kemalist language reform):
“ Egemenlik, kayıtsız şartsız Milletindir. "
In addition, this section regulates the competencies, elections and terms of office of the members of parliament and ministers. The Grand National Assembly was granted, among other things, sole legislative competence, the right to conclude peace and the authority to call for defense of the country.
administration
The administration was regulated in Art. 10. Turkey was divided into provinces (vilâyet), counties (kaza) and (Gau) communities (nahiye) . These were dealt with in more detail in Articles 11–21. Provinces and municipalities had the status of a legal person (Art. 11, 16). The Gau communities either consisted of several villages ( köy ) or consisted of a rural small town ( kasaba ). Big cities were not provided for in the constitution. Neither did they exist in the area controlled by the National Assembly government where the Constitution was effectively in force when it was promulgated. The existing big cities like Istanbul or Izmir were under foreign occupation and administration when the constitution came into force. Modern parishes ( Belediye ) were not established until 1930.
General inspection
The general inspection districts arose from the meeting of the provinces and had, among other things, the task of ensuring public order, inspecting the work of the administrative offices and coordinating the cooperation of the provinces belonging to the respective district.
Meaning and criticism
In contrast to the imposed Ottoman constitution, the law of 1921 was the first Turkish constitution to go back to elected representatives. With the provisional constitution of the newly constituting state, the Grand National Assembly was established under its current name as the “Grand National Assembly of Turkey”. For the first time it united all three powers in the name of the people. The judiciary was only to be transferred to independent courts a few years later. The then Executive Committee of the National Assembly developed over time into an independent executive body. In fact, parliamentary absolutism first came about.
literature
- Kemal Gözler : Türk Anayasa Hukukuna Giriş . 1st edition. Ekin Yayınevi, Bursa 2008, ISBN 978-9944-1-4137-6 .
- Bülent Tanör : Osmanlı-Türk Anayasal Gelişmeleri (1789–1980): (OTAG) . 18th edition. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, İstanbul March 2009, ISBN 978-975-363-688-1 , pp. 225–289.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christian Rumpf : The Turkish Constitution (short introduction) ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 13 kB). In: Internet portal for law and economy in Turkey . Stuttgart 2002, p. 1.
- ↑ Bülent Tanör: Osmanlı-Türk Anayasal Gelişmeleri (1789–1980): (OTAG) . 18th edition. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, İstanbul March 2009, ISBN 978-975-363-688-1 , p. 253.
- ↑ a b Kemal Gözler: 1921 Teşkilât-ı Esasîye Kanunu . In: Türk Anayasa Hukuku Sitesi . May 23, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2009. (Turkish)
- ↑ See the telegram Mustafa Kemal Paschas of January 30, 1921 to the Grand Vizier Ahmed Tevfik Pascha: “Kanun-ı Esasî'nin işbu mevad ile tearuz etmeyen ahkâmı kemâkân merîyülicradır.”
- ↑ Christian Rumpf: Introduction to Turkish Law. CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 978-3-406-51293-3 , p. 25.
- ^ Gotthard Jäschke: On the way to the Turkish Republic. A contribution to the constitutional history of Turkey. In: The world of Islam . Vol. 5, No. 3/4, Brill, 1958, pp. 206-218 (211).
- ↑ Bülent Tanör: Osmanlı-Türk Anayasal Gelişmeleri (1789–1980): (OTAG) . 18th edition. Yapı Kredi Yayınları, İstanbul March 2009, ISBN 978-975-363-688-1 , p. 247ff.
- ↑ Suna Kili: Türk Anayasaları . 2nd Edition. Tekin Yayınevi, Istanbul 1982, p. 36.
- ^ Constitutional Law of Turkey (1921) , Art. 1 p. 1.
- ↑ Turkish constitutional text , German translation (PDF)
- ↑ Ergun Özbudun: 1921 Anayasası. Ataturk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, Ataturk Araştırma Merkezi, Ankara 1992, ISBN 978-975-16-0471-2 , p. 2.
- ↑ Ahmet Mumcu: On the history of the constitutional state in Turkey. In: Hans R. Roemer, Albrecht Noth (ed.): Studies on the history and culture of the Middle East. Festschrift for Bertold Spuler on his seventieth birthday. E. J. Brill, Leiden 1981, pp. 264-274 (271).
- ↑ Christian Rumpf: Constitution and Administration. In: Klaus-Detlev Grothusen (Hrsg.): Südosteuropa-Handbuch. Volume IV. Turkey. Göttingen 1985, p. 169ff.
