Turkey’s AKP Proposes Changes to the Constitution

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has proposed constitutional changes after months of political turmoil and the arrest and detention of dozens of current and former military officers accused of plotting a coup against the AKP in 2003.

According to The New York Times, the party said the changes were meant to further democratize Turkey and bring its Constitution in line with European standards to help it pursue full European Union membership.

“The aim of these constitutional amendments is to establish people’s sovereignty in every field and strengthen the rule of the people,” Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said in a televised news conference.

One of the most important changes, and one that may gain some support, would make it harder for the country’s Constitutional Court, a supreme judicial body, to ban political parties for undermining secularism and the unity of the country. The court threatened the AKP with such a ban in 2008, and it has banned at least 25 parties over the years to safeguard constitutional integrity.

The AKP also wants Turkey’s president to appoint most of the judges on the Constitutional Court, which would be restructured to limit its powers.

Hasan Gerceker, the head of the Supreme Appeals Court, said the package of changes contradicted the Constitution and undermined judicial independence and separation of powers.

“The suggested changes mean more than besieging the judiciary,” Gerceker said. “It’s capturing the judiciary as a whole.”

The AKP also proposed more government oversight of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, an important body within the judiciary that appoints court officials.

Among other constitutional changes, the reform package would allow former generals who took part in the military coup in 1980 to be tried, annulling a clause that granted immunity. It would also allow military officers to appeal against exclusion from the army for alleged links to radical Islamic or other religious groups, and open the way for officers to be tried in civilian rather than military courts for plotting against civilian governments.

If the proposed constitutional changes fail to win the two-thirds majority needed to pass in Parliament, the government will hold a referendum to ratify them, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said.