The 2001 Amendments to the 1982 Constitution of Turkey

The 1982 Constitution of Turkey was amended extensively on 3 October 2001 by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA). This was the most comprehensive modification in the Turkish Constitution since its inauguration. The Constitution of 1982, which had been criticized by almost all political parties after returning to multi party politics in 1983, was amended by the TGNA in 1987, 1993, 1995, 1999 (twice), 2001 and 2002. However, none of these amendments was adequate for scrapping the remnants of the military regime from the Turkish constitutional system. This article analyses the 2001 amendments, which can be seen as a crucial step towards the elimination of non-liberal and non-democratic elements from the 1982 Constitution.