Analysis of the social state principle in the 1961 Constitution from a legal and historical perspective

The 1961 Constitution is the fourth constitution adopted in the history of Turkish law. This constitution, which was prepared as a result of the May 27 Military Coup, has been described as the "constitution of firsts" in terms of the provisions it contains. With the enactment of the aforementioned constitution, many institutions and organizations gained a constitutional status for the first time, the "Parliamentary Government System" and accordingly the "Separation of Powers Theory" began to be implemented in real terms, and as a result, a new political structure emerged in Turkey. Since the aforementioned constitution was created with a libertarian-pluralist understanding and gives a wide place to fundamental rights and freedoms, it has also made an important contribution to the development of Turkish democratic culture. The 1961 Constitution's libertarian character had a significant impact on social life in Turkey. In this context, for the first time in the history of Turkish law, the 1961 Constitution regulated the "principle of social state" as an attribute of the state. With the inclusion of this principle in the constitution, it is aimed to strengthen the basic will of the state to be social by giving the state the duty to provide changes in social and economic life. Thus, the way has been paved for individuals to have a minimum level of life worthy of human dignity. The social state principle is defined as a state understanding with legal and economic functions that sees the active intervention of the state in social and economic life as legitimate and necessary in order to ensure social justice and social peace. While the economic aspect of this principle is that the state takes the necessary economic measures for individuals in social life, its legal function is that the state provides social and economic rights to individuals. With the mentioned rights also gaining importance from a legal point of view, the effectiveness of this principle increases. For this reason, these rights are an integral part of the social state principle. Therefore, the legal aspect of the social state principle emerges as a result of securing these rights only by arranging them in social contracts called the constitution. This study aims to examine in detail, from a legal and historical perspective, how this principle is included in the 1961 Constitution, which emphasizes the principle of social state for the first time in constitutional terms. For this purpose, the principle of social state and social and economic rights, which constitute the legal function of this principle, were analyzed according to the content of the 1961 Constitution and the Turkish constitutions and constitutional documents prior to this Constitution. In order to reveal these data, books, articles and postgraduate studies on Turkish constitutional law, constitutional history, the 1961 Constitution and the principles and rights in question were examined. In addition, encyclopedias, papers and periodicals were used. Finally, this study is a qualitative study; here, it was prepared using the document analysis technique.