TURKEY Referendum

Testing Turkey's appetite for change

By Toby Vogel - 09.09.2010 / 05:26 CET

Turks to vote on changes to the constitution amid concerns that AK party would be too powerful.

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Fact file

THE PROPOSED CHANGES

The constitutional amendments that will be put to a referendum on 12 September concern above all the role of the judiciary, which is a bastion of old-style secularism in Turkey.
The reforms aim to increase the government's control of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which in turn is responsible for the appointment of senior judges and prosecutors and has frequently been at odds with the mildly Islamist government. Under the reform, the HSYK's membership would be tripled, with appointments being made by the president.
Under the changes, all judges on the Constitutional Court would be appointed by the parliament or the president. The reform is, in addition, supposed to make it more difficult for the court to ban political parties. The package also allows serving military personnel to face civilian courts. Cases against the armed forces' leadership would be heard in the Supreme Court. The leaders of the 1980 coup, including retired general Kenan Evren, would no longer have immunity from prosecution.