@article{2018,title={FOUNDATIONAL CONSTITUTION ENGINEERING IN TURKEY},abstractNode={The evolution process towards the rule of law and the constitutional movements that emerged as its symbol –which have started in the West with Magna Carta in 1215 and in Turkey with Sened-i İttifak in 1808- are embodied in a political document rather than a legal document which takes the name “constitution.” During the constitutional development process of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the first constitution, the constitution was prepared under the influence of international dynamics as internal dynamics could not be developed to manage this process. Thus, the foundations of the Turkish constitutionalism and constitutionalization culture were laid as an effect of the conditions granting the formation of the Kanun-i Esasi to the society and the sovereign government mentality of that period. The Constitution of 1876, which was in force until 1924, was marked by successive sub-periods until 1960. The 1961 and 1982 constitutions represent different processes as the institutional foundations of constitutional democracy were developed. The current 1982 constitution - with its constitutional theory and practice, and the tradition of the parliamentary system - constitutes a dominant but seperate category of "state authority/power" in the democratic liberal system. This situation has become one of the basic paradoxes of Turkish modernization. Constitutional processes in Turkey turned into a constitutional state or constitutional state paradigma which had developed away from axis of the state-society conflict, and they also emerged as the practice of institutionalizing the rule of law. It should be questioned whether the constitution in force in a society is, above all, compatible with the genetic codes of that society. The basic norms that produce the institutional mechanisms of self-government of society and that set limits on power are included in the text of the constitution. The constitution has been transformed from its basic function and turned into the “instrument of governing the society” since it has displayed a situation of “alienation and instrumentalization” of the constitution.},author={İrfan PAÇACI},year={2018},journal={The Journal of Social Sciences}}