Turkey says 'yes' in referendum

Turkey has approved much-debated constitutional amendments that will redesign the country’s top judicial institutions, handing the ruling party an important political victory ahead of next year’s general elections.

With nearly all ballot boxes counted after Sunday’s referendum, held on the 30th anniversary of the 12 September 1980 military coup, 58 percent of voters backed the 26 proposed constitutional amendments while 42 percent opposed the changes, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

The overall turnout in the referendum was around 77 percent, an indication that the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP’s, call to boycott the vote was influential.

The amendments will change the structure of two crucial judicial institutions, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges, or HSYK, while also making reforms – such as strengthening the rights of women and children – that are likely to help Turkey in its negotiation process with the European Union.

The European bloc, which Turkey seeks to join, openly supported the amendments.

Following months of debate and heavy campaigning by political party leaders, the referendum ended with a triumph for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. As in the 2009 local elections, the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, mostly found support in the coastal areas around the Aegean and the Mediterranean, which largely voted in line with its “no” push.

The ruling party swept the votes in the major cities of Istanbul and Ankara as well as in southeastern Anatolia, where the BDP boycotted the referendum. In Diyarbakır, a BDP stronghold, for instance, there was a 33 percent turnout, with more than 90 percent of those who voted casting their ballots in favor of “yes.”