Constitution Platform Turkey Speaks:Citizen Assemblies for a New Constution by Emre Koyuncu

1. tepav
Participation in Action
Constitution Platform Turkey Speaks:
Citizen Assemblies for a New Constitution

2. tepavTEPAV: A think-do tank in
Turkey
policy
research
and
advocacy
practical
projects
The think
& do tank
Economics
Law
Governance
Foreign
Policy

3. tepavTEPAV Good Governance
Agenda
• Developing and Implementing Tools for
Participatory Local Strategic Governance
 Citizen scorecards, poverty mapping, budget monitoring
• Public oversight on the central government budget
• Anti-corruption
 Tracking household perception on public administration,
public services and corruption
• Governance in local and regional development
 Participatory city and regional strategies
• Constitution studies
 Secretariat for the Constitution Platform

4. tepav
• The constitution, a social contract but how?
• CP was established in 2007
 An initiative of the Turkey side of the Turkey-EU Joint
Consultative Committee (host + facilitator)
• Objective: To create a forum for constitutional dialogue
that should inform the new constitution
• Motto: The constitution as a symbol of unity is
dependent on how the constitution is made
• A national search conference brought together 250
participants from 80 CSOs
 Participation for a constitutional dialogue is possible
 Constitutional is good for overcoming barriers built around
polarized topics
Constitution Platform (2007)

5. tepav
• Organizing Citizen Assemblies under TEPAV’s
secretariat
• First deliberative democracy experiment
• Taking the constitutional debate one step
further:
 From constitutional principles to concrete constitutional
expectations
• Demonstrating how a culture of consensual
dialogue can deal with contentious issues
• Voluntary participation in constitution making
• Heterogeneous groups showing the capability
to discuss, if not totally resolve, polarizing
issues
Constitution Platform (2012)
Turkey Speaks

6. tepav
Participation is worth
when you have an address
 Constitutional Conciliation Commission of
the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA)
 Equal representation of all parties
 Unanimity sought in decision making
 Speaker of Parliament and commission
members from each political party attended
every single Citizen Assembly.

7. tepav
Participation makes difference
when it is demand driven

8. tepav
Demand for a new constitution on
the rise after the referendum
Do you think that Turkey needs a new constitution?
41%
69%
59%
31%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Kasım 2008 Şubat 2011
YOK
VAR
November 2008 February 2011
NO
YES
TEPAV Public Survey

9. tepav
Demand for direct participation
in constitution making
40%
58%
47%
28%
13% 14%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2008 2010
Halkın vereceği katkı yok
Halk referandumda onaylasın
Halk fikirleriyle katılsınHalkın fikirlerini ifade
edebilecekleri
katılım mekanizmaları
oluşturulmalıdır.
TEPAV Public Survey
How do you think the people should participate in constitution making?
Halkın referandumda oy
kullanması yeterlidir
People don’t have any
contribution to make
Voting in a referendum
would suffice
Participatory
mechanisms enabling
people’s opinions to be
heard must be designed

10. tepav
15%
22%
63%
İktidar yapmalı
Mecliste uzlaşma
ile yapılmalı
Toplumsal
uzlaşma ile
yapımalı
83%
9%
8%
Katılıyorum
Ne katılıyorum /
ne katılmıyorum
Katılmıyorum
Popular demand for
consensual constitution making
Who should make the
constitution and how? (2010)
Consensus must be sought
during the constitution making
process (2010)
TEPAV Public Survey
Government
in power
In the
Parliament, co
nsensually
Through
societal
consensus
Agree
No idea
Disagree

11. tepav
Turkey
Speaks
but
how?

12. tepav
2 ways of asking the people to become
“Constitution Volunteers”
Reaching out to the people
Mobile phones; effective and legitimate
• Turkish people’s use of mobile phones
above the European average
• 62 million cell phone subscriptions
• A monthly average of 90 min. talk per person
2/3 of participants
• Citizens who answered the
randomly sent messages through
cell phones
1/3 of participants
• Local CSO representatives invited
by going through every available list
1 2
Size of available
halls determined
the number of
participants
3

13. tepav
Ensuring diverse tables
• A special software designed by TEPAV to make sure that
 each table has at least 6 participants
 each table has at least 2 woman participants
 each table has at least 2 local CSO representatives plus
2 citizens randomly invited through cell phones
 no table has participants with the same surname
 no table has participants from the same local CSO

14. tepavOur method (1)
Turkey Speaks, but how?
First deliberative democracy experience in the history of Turkey
~ 50 QUESTIONS
~ 10 HOURS OF DEBATE
DELIBERATION POLLING
Instant documentation of
discussions
Instant display of the results
of decisions
PARLIAMENT’S
CONSTITUTIONAL CONCILIATION COMMISSION

15. tepav
• ~ 50 questions designed using a concise and
politically enabling language
 A universal, unimposing, non-polarizing
vocabulary
Avoiding the jargon that triggers ossified positions
 Questions reviewed in meetings with
stakeholders
A comprehensive list of constitutional issues that matter
most for not only institutional design, but also citizens’
everyday lives
Our method (2)
Turkey Speaks, but how?

16. tepav
50 questions around 10 topics
1. Freedom of expression and political association
2. Cohabitation of divergent groups within the society
3. Public services (Equal access and impartiality)
4. Local governance
5. Governmental systems
6. Judicial independence and the rule of lawtu
7. State and Religion
8. Elections and political parties
9. Checks and balances for the political power
10.Natural and cultural values

17. tepav
QUESTION
CONSTITUTIONAL
PRINCIPLE
EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC SERVICES
The government has a duty to ensure that
citizens are capable of using their basic right
to equal and effective access to public
services.
Should there be additional regulations in the new
constitution that take note of citizens’ differences
in order to ensure that all citizens have equal and
effective access to public services?
An Example of a Question

18. tepavPerceptions of
“equal access to public services”
• How are “differences” perceived?
 Disabilities, sexual orientations, religious sects, ethnic
identities
• Opinions regarding the “additional regulations that
take note of citizens’ differences”:
 Equal access to religious services (Ankara)
 Lifting the ban on headscarves (Konya)
 Affirmative action for the Roma people (Edirne)
 Provision of services in different languages (Diyarbakır)
 Enabling the participation of disabled persons in social life
(İzmir)
 Yes to “equal access”, no to “additional regulations”
(Ankara)

19. tepav
• Random invitation through cell phones helped
us reach heterogenous groups
• Carefully designed set of questions encouraged
participants to formulate their own demands
What CP achieved (1)
Our method worked smoothly

20. tepav
• Citizen Assemblies showed that every social issue in
Turkey could be dealt with from
the perspective of deliberative democracy
 Mature and reasonable
participants
 Fruitful and civilized
discussions
What CP achieved (2)
The possibility of a new approach

21. tepav
• Targeted events in response to low women
and youth participation:
 ~400 women participants /
8 March Ankara Assembly
 ~350 young participants /
25 March Samsun Assembly
What CP achieved (3)
Empowering women and youth

22. tepav
• More efforts to encourage women’s participation
 Child care centers
 Quotas for woman
representatives of CSOs
 Call Center’s prioritized calls
 A woman’s voice message
randomly invited woman citizens
What CP achieved (4)
Trying hard to overcome gender inequality

23. tepav
• A highly influential “constitutional awareness”
campaign was successfully carried out.
What CP achieved (5)
Engaging the people

24. tepav
Citizens’ opinions on constitutional issues compiled in
12 different provinces over a period of 5 months
• 7000 participants, 1,000 discussion tables where groups of 6 to 10
deliberated
• ~ 15,000 pages of citizens’ opinions compiled
What CP achieved (6)
13 Citizen Assemblies

25. tepav
Which principle
should be upheld as
a priority in the
making of the new
constitution?
An example that demonstrates
how sophisticated the data set is

26. tepavWhich principle should be upheld as a priority
in the making of the new constitution?
AVERAGE OF 13 ASSEMBLIES
19
14
36
58
ÖZGÜRLÜK EŞİTLİK REFAH İSTİKRAR ADALETLIBERTY EQUALITY WELFARE STABILITY JUSTICE

27. tepav
40
20
26
18 22 23 18 17 15 16 15 11 13
15
17
16
18 15 14
11 12 13 14 14
10 11
3
6 2
3 4 2
6 4 6 4 2
3 1
2
10
3 6 4 5
7 8 6 5
5
7 6
40
47
54 54 55 55 58 59 60 60 64 68 69
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Adalet
İstikrar
Refah
Eşitlik
Özgürlük
Which principle should be upheld as a priority
in the making of the new constitution?
PROVINCES
Justice
Liberty
Stability
Welfare
Equality

28. tepav
6440791024558013 2 4752575917164862687075 8 354345495073333436 4 5371111415223739424446586972 9 1218202728 3 5 5456616366 7 7478 1 2638 6 6065767721232
ADALET 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 9
İSTİKRAR 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
REFAH 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
EŞİTLİK 0 3 2 0 6 1 1 1 2 0 0 3 1 3 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 3 0 1 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
ÖZGÜRLÜK 9 3 4 2 0 1 4 1 5 1 2 3 1 0 4 0 1 1 2 1 4 0 1 2 0 2 0 3 0 0 1 1 3 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Which principle should be upheld … ?
TRABZON – TABLE BY TABLE

29. tepavTable 40 in Trabzon:
Options other than justice given more priority
Highly diverse reasons, justifications and arguments
3
3
3
TABLE 40
ÖZGÜRLÜK
EŞİTLİK
İSTİKRAR
•“Everything depends on
money…”
•“Without stability, we can’t be a
nation…”
•“Without liberty, no stability…”
•“Equality means justice…”
LIBERTY
EQUALITY
STABILITY

30. tepavTable 21 in Trabzon:
Consensus on justice
9
TABLE 21
Adalet
• “Justice guarantees liberty, too…”
• “I want welfare…”
• “Without justice, there can be neither
welfare nor equality…”
NOTE:
Dialogue implies that the participant arguing
for “welfare” was probably convinced by
arguments in favour of “justice”
JUSTICE

31. tepavHow to analyze such
sophisticated data?
• Constitutional demands and expectations
could be approached at different levels of
analysis.
• Every constitutional demand is expressed with
very different motivations, for very different
reasons.
• Majority or minority… Every opinion matters

32. tepav
A general evaluation
• Citizen Assemblies were a success
 We utilized deliberative democracy as an
attempt to transform the majoritarianism of
representative democracy into a pluralist
experience
 Citizen Assemblies did not produce superficial
poll results, but captured the substantial and
sophisticated thought processes of citizens
• Beyond simple “Yes/No” questions
 The “No”s that informed a “Yes” and vice versa

33. tepav
There were intense debates

34. tepav
“Mark my words, son…”

35. tepav
“That’s not the case, sir…”

36. tepavSome lost their temper,
but none lost control

37. tepavA discussion coordinator
under pressure

38. tepav
After 10 hours of debate

39. tepav
Speaker of Parliament Cemil Çiçek receiving CP reports

40. tepavConclusion
• CP experience means debating contentious topics
within a framework based on common sense.
• Close cooperation with the Conciliation
Commission
 By attending the Citizen Assemblies, commission
members not only motivated participants, but got
motivated themselves.
• Before the Citizen Assemblies, constitution making
was a “very difficult” process.
 After…it is just “difficult”…

41. tepav
Words from participants
• I do not want be considered as an electorate
but a citizen.
• This platform made me feel that I am a citizen.

42. tepav

43. tepav