Reform or die

The government girds itself for a battle over constitutional reforms

Mar 25th 2010 | ISTANBUL | From The Economist print edition A FRESH burst of reformist zeal, or a final assault on the secular establishment? Whichever is right, the constitutional changes proposed this week by Turkey’s mildly Islamist Justice and Development (AK) government have raised tensions with its critics in the secular elite. The measures would further curb the powers of Turkey’s once omnipotent generals (who wrote the present constitution after a military coup in 1980) and their allies in the judiciary. They include a law to allow civilian prosecutors to try would-be coup plotters. Just such a measure was recently quashed by the constitutional court at the behest of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). A bastion of Turkey’s secular establishment, the court (like the CHP) has the reflex instinct of opposing any moves to assert the authority of elected officials over generals. This may explain why many of the changes suggested by AK would overhaul the way in which judges are selected. If the package is approved, the Turkish president would choose most members of the constitutional court. The government would also gain some sway over the supreme board of judges and prosecutors, another secular stronghold that picks most court officials. Critics say that this would allow Islamists to infiltrate Turkey’s court system. Such claims would carry more weight if AK were dealing with one of its supporters’ main grievances: the ban on Islamic-style headscarves in state universities and government offices. When AK tried to change this after being elected for a second term in 2007, the chief prosecutor, Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, began proceedings to close the party on the ground that it wanted to introduce sharia law. In 2008 the constitutional court threw the case out, albeit by a single vote. Mr Yalcinkaya is said to be building a new case against AK. Not surprisingly, AK’s constitutional reforms include a provision to require parliamentary blessing for the banning of any political party. The AK prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insists that the constitutional changes have no purpose other than to promote Turkish membership of the European Union. He is lobbying opposition parties, because constitutional reforms need a two-thirds majority in parliament, which AK lacks on its own. But all the opposition leaders have rejected his overtures. That may force Mr Erdogan to put the measures to a referendum instead. But this carries risks of its own: should voters say no, this would be cast as a vote against the AK government itself. No matter, say AK insiders. Polls put Mr Erdogan way ahead of his opponents, with AK still on 40% support. So long as the opposition blindly resists all constitutional and other reforms, they will remain in opposition.