Balkan Time | The former president of the American Association of Young Men, Murad, has assessed potential constitutional changes in the country.

The former President of the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia, Salih Murat, assessed the constitutional amendments, which are necessary for the EU membership negotiations in the country, in his analysis, in all its dimensions. We present to you the second part of the analysis, of which we published the first part yesterday.

TIMEBALKAN

– The beginning of our constitution, its significance and possible changes

The Preamble to our Constitution sets out the basic philosophy on which our Constitution is based and the basic principles of the state’s ideology. The preamble is at the beginning of our constitution. It is not part of the text of the Constitution[1]. It consists of a national and private text written in a very superior literary style explaining the reasons for the constitution.[2]. A text that explains the essential elements of the collective bond that binds our communities together. There are introductions in different constitutions of the world. There are various reasons for placing a preamble or preamble in constitutions.

The beginning of the Constitution of Macedonia includes the struggle for independence, the reasons for the constitution, its political history, the timing, the main principles, the goals of the new regime, the founding states and the implications of multiculturalism, more precisely those who brought about the constitution.

– The Preamble, which was introduced in 1991, is completely inconsistent with the Preamble of the 1974 Constitution.

The preamble to our Constitution is not a legal text, but its effect is more effective than any legal standard because it contains the spirit of the Constitution. It is clear that the source of sovereignty belongs to the peoples living in Macedonia. Unfortunately, the preamble introduced in 1991 completely contradicts the preamble of the 1974 constitution. The clearest example is the prohibition of Albanians and Turks from being constituent elements. With the 2001 amendments to our Constitution, the national character of the Macedonian State has changed.[3]. He tried to give a different direction and understanding of this text through word games and comments made later on. The clearest example of this is 1997.[4] It appears in the Community Flags Use Act of the year. This law was passed in 2005 because it violated Article 48 of the constitution at that time.[5] changed by the new law. With this law, our rights to use the national symbols of the Turks have been usurped instead of improving our rights in Article 48 of our Constitution.

When we look at the value of the first parts of the world’s constitutions, I think we can divide this question into three. We can divide it into symbolic, explanatory and independent introductory parts. I believe that the preamble to our country’s constitution is used as an independent source and a measure of constitutionality. France[6] The Constitution also adopts this principle.

Accordingly, changing the Preamble/Preamble of our Constitution is not a simple change. Any changes that need to be made up front are both binding and impressive. Discussions conducted so far, it is considered to add some “persons” to the existing list of constituent peoples of the Macedonian state in the “constituent peoples” section of the amendment to the introductory part of the Constitution.

– “The weight of the introduction of the constitution will decrease.”

If we consider the principles and principles I have mentioned above regarding the importance and place of “beginning” of the addition of new peoples, we see that the new additions are not in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution. This will put the Constitution of North Macedonia in a more complicated and bigger predicament. The weight of the preamble to the constitution will be reduced. I’m afraid to lose the quality of its resources. New founders will be added to the founding role of existing nations and peoples. It will be devoid of historical reality and developments. New peoples will emerge from the existing “constituent peoples”. I am afraid that these additions will create new problems for democracy instead of moving Macedonia forward.

The founding peoples must be the peoples whose existence over the centuries has had historical truth, influence, responsibility and support for the development and preservation of our society. Giving the role of founders to imaginary institutional peoples is against the spirit of the Constitution. These so-called founders have greatly borne their burdens and responsibilities in the past, present and future of the Macedonian state, and they are not able to bear them in the future. These new founding peoples were unable to establish their identities, were unable to form their own backbone and could not establish themselves for centuries. This public power, founded on oppression and undemocratic will, should not be based. This contradicts the spirit of constitutions, their independence and the rule of law. For a long time, the founding peoples that existed in some legal and political circles were also questioned. The existing founding peoples say that the plural is a derivation. In order to verify this thesis, it can be clearly seen when a comparative study is made of the constitutions of 1974 and 1991. Keep in mind that with new additions these principles will lose their speed and force. This is why I am also against including the new founding peoples in the preamble to the constitution, because they are not based on any historical or legal basis.

– “Including the new founding peoples in the preamble to our constitution appears to be a political manoeuvre.”

On the other hand, when viewed tactically and politically, the inclusion of these new founding peoples in the preamble to our constitution is seen as a political maneuver. For a long time, due to the various problems we had with Bulgaria, a bilateral contract was signed between Macedonia and Bulgaria.[7]. When we examine the contract, it is clearly seen that it was not an amicable contract between two neighbours, that one of the parties had the upper hand, and that open and different interpretations were far-fetched. Personally, I briefly expressed the problems with both Bulgaria and Greece in my various articles and publications.

I cannot understand the negative position of Bulgaria in the scope of the negotiations for the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union. As North Macedonia, we want to be a member of the European Union not for the conditions and values ​​imposed by Bulgaria, but for the values ​​and principles that the European Union provides, such as equality for minorities, freedom of thought, economic prosperity, freedom of movement and the rule of law.

Moreover, one of the most important values ​​of the European Union, which is repeated at every opportunity: “The Union supports economic, social and domestic harmony and solidarity among Member States. The Union respects its rich cultural and linguistic diversity and guarantees the protection and development of European cultural heritage, although our country has fulfilled most of its principles Unfortunately, this fact is ignored by many member states.As is known, the EU particularly stresses “local harmony and solidarity, rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and the protection and development of cultural heritage” as the main value and regards it as a wealth.

– Attitudes of neighboring countries towards membership in the European Union

You can realize that each of these values ​​that the European Union recommends to the candidate and member states, North Macedonia actually treats them with respect, considers differences as wealth, and is considered one of the only countries that reflects and strives to preserve and reflect them. This is in the best way in their local law.

In this direction, we must remember that the values ​​of the European Union are not the sum of the ambitions of Bulgaria or any other member that they have tried to impose on us for years and their internal political contradictions!

Moreover, countries that find it difficult to adapt to the values ​​of the European Union and find it difficult to reflect these values ​​in their societies have no right to exempt others from these values ​​and to question these values ​​unilaterally.

While Macedonia guarantees the integrity, sovereignty, and independence of the state in the constitution and domestic law to all its neighboring neighbours, it also prohibits all kinds of defeatism, terrorism, discrimination, and violence since its independence.

In this regard, I would like to stress and reiterate that these negative attitudes and the impositions of our neighbors against us have no place in the values ​​of the European Union, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, international law or bilateral relations.

– New Founder’s Rings are a serious spawn

That is why I see the addition of the new Founded Peoples to our Constitution as objective in legal terms and without any justification, but only due to political imposition. Again, in my opinion, I think the acceptance of this by the Macedonian side will be due to the political approach. It may seem profitable in the short term, but I think it will not be profitable in the long term. I think they move on from this thesis. If we include the Bulgarians as founding people in the Macedonian constitution, we will separate the Macedonian line from the Bulgarian line. We Macedonians will be in the majority as numerical persons, Bulgarians will be in the minority as numerical persons. The values ​​and shares will be in accordance with this ratio. They believe that since they are a very symbolic number, they will not upset the balance. With this approach, the problem will be under the rug, but it will not achieve a permanent solution. For this reason, they will propose different foundational peoples in order to reduce the reaction among the Macedonian people, and more seriously, some new “foundational peoples” will appear.

From the point of view of the Turks, we are considered as one of the only nations that lived in every period of Macedonia, contributed to it, and assumed all kinds of responsibilities as a nation. We oppose the inclusion in the Constitution of the founding peoples, who do not have these characteristics and do not contribute to historical processes.

– “Turkish institutions and organizations should not accept the addition of new countries to the constitution”

On the other hand, it is desirable to strike a new blow at the Turkic-Macedonians by creating new founding peoples. Obviously, this example is 2021.[8] We saw it in the census. They created new nations and peoples that have no basis in the constitution and law. Given the results, unfortunately, they created few new states from the Macedonian Turks. The number of these new states is about 10 thousand. And the Turks as they came down seemed to be dropping by 1%.

As a result, there is no legal, historical basis and justification for adding the new founding peoples and especially the founding peoples derived from them in the preamble to the Macedonian constitution, whether with the first or second thesis. That is why I believe that Turkish institutions and organizations should never accept this.

More is coming…

Source:

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[1] They say Pravo, Prof. DR. Svetomir Shkarich, July 2007, Strana 215

[2] Yavuz Atar, Turkish Constitutional Law, Ankara 2007

[3] Svetomir Karic, Proposals to improve the Constitutional Security Project, Skopje, 2001

[4] акон за употреба NA знамеса преку припадниците националните малцинства во RM изразуваат стои Служben весник бр.32/1997 December 09, 1997

[5] акон за употреба на знамизата на заедниците на RM, Сl. Wesnik on RM br.58/05 о 19.07.2005

[6] Orgad, L.; Preamble to Constitutional Interpretation, p. 727

[7] For this reason, make sure you make and share your reputation and reputation.

[8] Results of Censuses Conducted in 2021….POPIS_DZS_web_MK.pdf (stat.gov.mk) pp. 34 and 35, point T-04 and T-05.