Turkish
Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has on Wednesday cleared the ongoing
controversy in Istanbul that Turkey is not planning to introduce an Islamic
constitution.
He said
while speaking before the parliament that the clearance was because of a call
for an Islamic constitution from Parliament Speaker, Ismail Kahraman.
Davutoglu
said the speaker insisted that Turkey should be defined as an Islamic nation
and have a new religious-based constitution that does not contain the principle
of secularism.
The
prime minister said Turkey is currently debating changes to its constitution
meant to empower the office of the president, currently held by Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
Davutoglu
said secularism would be "part of the new constitution which would secure
citizens' freedom of religion and faith.
Secularism
has been a defining characteristic of modern Turkey, founded in 1923 by Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk.
The
concept is mentioned repeatedly in the constitution, which was created in 1980
following a military coup.
He
explained that the constitution would also guarantee that "the state
maintains the same distance to all religious groups.
Meanwhile,
Erdogan has distanced himself from the remarks, which he described as
Kahraman's "personal opinion."
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