President Erdoğan spoke at the 'New Constitution Symposium' held at Ulucanlar Prison Museum on the 43rd anniversary of the 12 September military coup. Stating that Turkey experienced one of the darkest periods in the history of the republic 43 years ago, Erdoğan said: "Those fateful days, when almost every household had its share of suffering, have never been erased from our memories and will never be erased. If only Ulucanlar Prison, Mamak Prison, Diyarbakır Prison, Sağmalcılar Prison could speak about those days. The penalty of our young people who were found to have nothing to do with the crime they were tried for after their execution or who were tortured to death like Hüseyin Kuru Mahmutoğlu will haunt the coup plotters in the next world. After 7-8 years since the coup, almost all of those who were put in prison with the blows of the stocks were released, including those who were tried with death penalty. Even this example alone is a sign of how much the work done with all its phases from judgement to execution is for show. Of course, the biggest dagger stabbed into the heart of our country by the 12 September administration is the 1982 coup constitution, which we are still talking and discussing."

'WE DID NOT GIVE UP OUR GOAL OF A LIBERTARIAN CONSTITUTION'

Emphasising that although the current constitution has been amended 23 times, it is still a coup d'état constitution, Erdoğan said: "Each of the amendments is of course important. But it is also a fact that each amendment destroys the integrity of the writing and meaning of the constitution. For this purpose, we initiated a new constitutional work under the roof of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey about 10 years ago. Compared to the previous constitutional amendments, this work with the widest political participation failed due to the opposition parties' sidelining, so to speak. Nevertheless, we did not give up our goal of providing our country with a new, civil, democratic, libertarian and inclusive constitution. Unfortunately, our proposal to completely rewrite the constitution during the transition to the Presidential Government System could not be realised due to the uncompromising attitude of the opposition. Nevertheless, we continued to follow the promise we made to our nation. We have never lost our ideal of bringing our nation to the constitution it deserves."