Murad Khaitov comments on development of Constitution of Turkmenistan

In an exclusive interview to CentralAsia.news, Murad Khaitov, a political analyst, Doctor of Law, Professor, Honored Lawyer, and Honorary Elder of Turkmenistan, revealed the main stages of modernization of the Constitution of Turkmenistan.

National model

The Constitution of Turkmenistan turned 30 on May 18, 2022. Over the years, much has changed in the life of the Turkmen society and the state. The national legislation has been significantly updated, and modern laws and other regulatory legal acts which greatly contribute to the development of state and public institutions, increasing the economic and social security of the population have been adopted. In a short time, Turkmenistan has achieved serious success in establishing foreign policy relations and has managed to take a worthy place in the community of states of the world.

Domestic experience allows stating that the Constitution of Turkmenistan is the result of the unity of the people and their desire to achieve national harmony. The socio-political consent of the Turkmen people on May 18, 1992, was expressed in the choice of a modern model for the development of national statehood, based on historical sources, and through the consolidation of the principles of organization and functioning of public authorities, their orientation towards achieving several constitutionally significant goals.

The Constitution of Turkmenistan is an independent phenomenon in our social and legal reality, which is characterized by commonality and a set of basic features and legal properties. In turn, it is these properties that express the individuality, difference, and qualitative originality of the body of Basic Law. They reveal the legal essence and nature of the constitution.

The constitution has a final character. It consolidates the achieved level of development of social relations that had developed by the time it was adopted or amended. Each new stage of the constitutional reform is a legal reflection of the course of the historical development of society and the state. The constitutional development of Turkmenistan is a permanent process that permeates all institutions of the state.

This process, regardless of approaches to its content, one way or another, is associated with the introduction of amendments and additions to the current constitutional and legal regulations. This development of Turkmenistan is distinguished by its features, a combination of historically established traditional forms of democracy, and institutions of public authority, which together make up the national model of the development path, and corresponds to the doctrine of constitutional identity.

The Constitution of Turkmenistan, as a legal phenomenon, fixes the foundations for the organization and functioning of public authorities, and interaction between society and the state. It is a necessary political and legal instrument that reflects its model of the constitutional structure and other vital issues of state and social construction.

Stages of modernization

To trace the evolutionary process of the Constitution of Turkmenistan, it is advisable to return to its origins, to the situation in which it was developed, publicly discussed, and adopted.

The fundamental law of Turkmenistan was adopted in a difficult period of national history, which was characterized as a transitional period. At the same time, despite all the difficulties of this period, Turkmenistan managed to create a fairly flexible political and legal document that allowed overcoming problems and managed to maintain its relevance, national identity, and historically established forms of democracy.

The current Constitution of Turkmenistan kept its viability and proved its legal viability, without a fundamental change in the fundamental principles and mechanisms. It has made a significant contribution to the stability of the domestic political and economic situation.

It is known that the future is rooted in the past and the present. In the process of its evolution, the Constitution of Turkmenistan has gone through several stages. Over the past years, the state and legal development of Turkmenistan has experienced several stages of constitutional reforms, in 1995, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2017, and 2020. Each of them led to fundamental changes in the socio-economic and political fields, making a significant contribution to the development of the country.

These changes were related to the events caused both in the domestic and foreign policy of Turkmenistan, the need to enshrine the status of permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan in the body of the Basic Law, and improve the activities of state institutions.

For example, an amendment containing the provisions of the Resolution by the UN General Assembly adopted on December 12, 1995, was made to the Constitution after the proclamation in 1995 of the permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan. In 2003, the Halk Maslakhaty of provinces, districts, and cities were constituted in the system of local government bodies.

Subsequently, clarifications were made to the basic law regarding the role and place of higher and local bodies of state power and local self-government. In 2008, a new constitutional reform was initiated in Turkmenistan. It resulted in the transformation of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan. Its functions were redistributed between the legislative and executive branches.

An important milestone in constitutional development was the reform in 2016. As part of the reform, a new version of the Constitution of Turkmenistan was adopted. The second section «Rights, freedoms and duties of a person and citizen» and the structure of the Constitution underwent significant changes: a new section VII «Economy and financial and credit system» was introduced, and the volume of the Constitution amounted to 142 articles.

A new platform of parliamentarism

The constitutional reforms were a socio-political and legal need for the development and improvement of the Turkmen society and state. In the process of constitutional reforms, several provisions of the basic law received their «second birth».

There was a unification of the powers of the highest bodies of state power, and the role and place of local executive bodies, local bodies of representative power, and local self-government were more precisely defined. In some cases, the powers of the highest bodies of state power were redistributed and clarified, as well as improved structurally.

A landmark event in the modern history of modern Turkmen statehood was 2021 when the goals and objectives of the constitutional reform proclaimed by the President of Turkmenistan in 2020 were successfully implemented. The constitutional reform for the first time introduced significant changes to the parliamentary system of Turkmenistan, marking the transition to a bicameral structure, a new model of parliamentarism.

In the Constitution, much attention has always been paid to fixing the role and importance of issues of power in the state and public life.

This is due to the historical conditions in which the relevant constitutional acts were adopted, and several other factors related to the development of economic and socio-political life. Thus, on March 12, 2022, the presidential elections in Turkmenistan were held in Turkmenistan. As a result of the elections, Serdar Berdimuhamedov was elected President of Turkmenistan.

Over the 30 years of its existence, the Constitution of Turkmenistan has also taken a significant step forward in recognizing international law within regulating relations between subjects of international law, and regulating legal relations in the country. It reflects what path Turkmenistan should follow in the future.

19 май 2022, 11:09
Photo source: CentralAsia.news

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