 |
| Mehmet Rıza Heyet |
"In fact, this is, in a way, about setting out our conditions," says Mehmet Rıza Heyet, head of the Tabriz Research Institute, who proposed the draft constitution for the Federal Republic of Iran, in an interview with Voice of America. "That is, after so much discrimination, oppression, pressure, and division, we can live together under certain conditions. Without these conditions, coexistence will not be possible."
Mehmet Rıza Heyet states that approximately 30 countries’ constitutions were studied in the process of preparing the draft.
"We worked for four months. We examined the constitutions of 30 countries around the world. Most of them were the constitutions of federal, bilingual, or multilingual countries. Additionally, we analyzed Iran’s constitutional law from the constitutional revolution era, the current Iranian constitution, and the constitutions of several neighboring countries. Our study was not just focused on language; we also took notes on federal structures and democratic principles."
The draft text was published after receiving approval from constitutional law experts.
"After bringing the text to a certain level, we sat down with constitutional law experts and examined each article one by one to ensure there were no legal issues or contradictions between the articles. After obtaining their approval, we published it on our website," says the Ankara University lecturer.
According to Heyet, "In multi-ethnic or multi-national countries like Iran, the ability of provinces to govern themselves has become a necessity. This is not something new for Iran. Because, during the Constitutional Revolution, the issue of provincial self-governance and autonomy was brought up for the first time in a modern sense, was included in the constitutional law, and was implemented."
The head of the Tabriz Institute points out that, both in the past and in modern Iranian history, many political and social movements have supported the idea of political autonomy and a federal government system:
"During the Pahlavi era, provincial self-governance was abolished. However, despite having different political views and ideologies, many figures have repeatedly brought this issue back to the agenda. For example, it was raised by Khyabani, Pishavari, and even Ayatollah Shariatmadari."
Heyet emphasizes that many political groups, both within Iran and abroad, currently have a positive view of the federal government system. However, he notes that none of these groups have provided detailed proposals on what kind of federalism model they are advocating, how the country should be governed during the transition to a federal structure, or how the parliament, government bodies, and provincial administrations should be structured.
"In this situation, we published this draft to open it up for discussion," he adds.
Heyet also views the publication of this draft as a way to lay out the necessary conditions for different communities in Iran to live together.
He states that one of the main goals was precisely this: "After so much oppression, discrimination, suffering, and division, what kind of country could we truly live in as citizens? In reality, this is also about setting out our conditions. That is, we can live together under certain conditions. Without these conditions, coexistence will not be possible."
Mehmet Rıza Heyet also highlights the recent rise in activity among monarchist supporters, noting that one of the key factors that motivated activists like him to act was precisely "the increasing activism of these monarchists."
"We thought that if a change is going to happen in Iran, the group that has the most right to make decisions and express their opinions about this change might be the Turks. Why? Because with the arrival of the Pahlavis, we did not just lose our language. We also lost governance. And we lost it in an illegitimate way."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
“Bu konstitusiya layihəsində birgə yaşama şərtlərimizi ortaya qoyduq”