Turkey: Reform Package Sent To Parliament

In a move that may further exacerbate tensions between the ruling AK Party and the Turkish military, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan‘s government submitted a package of constitutional amendments to parliament that would change the method of judicial appointments and, perhaps more significantly, allow military officials to be tried in civilian courts. Despite government assurances that the amendments are a politically innocuous attempt to formulate a new basic law that falls in line with European Union recommendations, some fear that many of the package’s provisions — such as expanding influential judicial bodies and increasing the appointment power of the president and parliament — would change the political balance within Turkey. Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, chastised the government for dragging “Turkey into a new conflict with this fait-accompli attempt,” one which he claims serves the special needs of the AK Party but not the country as a whole.

Nonetheless, Michael Allen of Democracy Digest puts this recent political turmoil in perspective and insists that Turkey is still “well-placed to assist efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East.” He points to a July 2009 survey that found that 64 percent of respondents in seven Arab countries believe “Turkey’s EU membership prospects makes Turkey an attractive partner for reform in the Arab world.”