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Constitution of Turkey

constitution

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ646519
Source-derived summary

The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Anayasası), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (Turkish: 1982 Anayasası), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the principles and rules of the state's conduct along with its responsibilities in regard to its citizens. The constitution also establishes the rights and responsibilities of the latter while setting the guidelines for the delegation and exercise that sovereignty belongs entirely and without doubt to the people.

The constitution was ratified on 7 November 1982. It replaced the earlier Constitution of 1961. The constitution was amended 21 times, three of them through a referendum: 2007, 2010, 2017, one of them partly through referendum: 1987. As of April 2017, 117 of the 177 articles of the Constitution of 1982 were amended overall.

History

The first constitution of the Ottoman Empire was adopted in 1876 and revised in 1908.

Since its founding, the modern Turkish state has been governed under four documents:

The Constitution of 1921,

The Constitution of 1924,

The Constitution of 1961, and,

The current Constitution of 1982.

The current constitution was ratified by popular referendum during the military junta of 1980-1983.

Editorial summary

“Constitution of Turkey” enters the record as constitution. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Constitution, Turkey and constitution can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1982, 1961, 2007, 2010—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1982-11-07. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Constitution, Turkey and constitution.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Constitution of Turkey” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Constitution, Turkey and constitution provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q646519. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1961, 2007 and 2010.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Constitution of Turkey”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Constitution of Turkey primary sources, Constitution of Turkey archive and Constitution research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Constitution of Turkey”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Constitution of Turkey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.