ekathimerini.com | S/E Europe

Turkish Minister of State for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis (r) speaks with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey (l) at the 119th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Madrid yesterday.

ANKARA – Turkey’s powerful secular judges have warned the Islamist-rooted government against plans to amend the country’s constitution, raising the specter of new political instability in the EU candidate country.

The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, wants Ankara to reform its constitution, drawn up under military rule in the 1980s, removing curbs on rights such as freedom of expression and religious freedom and reducing the army’s influence.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is drafting legislation to amend the charter, including changing a law to make it more difficult to close a political party on ideological grounds and restructuring the Constitutional Court.

But top judges – members of the conservative establishment that sees itself as guardian of Turkey’s secular system – have told the AKP in recent public statements that tampering with the highest court would be crossing a red line.

Reforming the charter would go a long way toward bolstering Ankara’s EU membership bid. But analysts say a power struggle between the government and secularists could derail such efforts.

Last year, Erdogan’s party narrowly escaped a legal attempt to ban it in a Constitutional Court case that paralyzed political life and hurt financial markets.

In a speech over the weekend, Mustafa Birden, head of the country’s top administrative court the Council of State, warned politicians that a parliamentary majority does not give them the legitimacy to change the constitution.

“Any amendment that will harm our republic’s basic principle of secularism and secular educational institutions has no place in our domestic law,” Birden said in comments widely interpreted by commentators as a veiled warning to the AKP.

Echoing similar views, Hasan Gerceker, the chief judge of the Court of Appeals, told the staunchly pro-secular Cumhuriyet daily on Monday that Turkey had “more urgent issues than a constitutional reform.”

Gerceker said plans to have parliament elect some members of the Constitutional Court were “unacceptable.” Under current law, the president chooses the members of the court.

Turkey’s secular establishment accuses the AKP of harboring a hidden Islamist agenda. Erdogan denies his party is a threat to Turkey’s secular order and has pointed to liberal EU-inspired reforms since it first swept to power in 2002.

“There is consensus in Turkey that the constitution needs to be updated, but any attempt to reform it by a party that was fined for anti-secular activities would render those changes illegitimate in the eyes of secularists,” said commentator Yusuf Kanli, who frequently criticizes the government.

A draft by a parliamentary commitee envisages limiting the power of prosecutors to demand the highest court shut down a party on ideological grounds by introducing the requirement of a two-thirds approval by parliament.

It would also restructure the Constitutional Court by increasing its members and having political parties in parliament elect judges according to their vote share.

The draft, which has not yet been sent to parliament, would set up an ombudsman office.

The AKP has enough votes to amend the constitution if it wins the support of the ultra-nationalist MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), which in the past has backed government legislation.

But senior AKP officials say they want to engage the secularist opposition to avoid a repetition of the court case in 2007, which plunged Turkey into chaos. The court did not ban the AKP but instead fined it for anti-secular activities.

The main opposition secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), suspicious of the AKP, has said it will not back changes led by a party that narrowly escaped closure.

“Constitutions are social contracts. An agreement of political parties is not sufficient for a constitution,” Hakki Suha Okay, CHP parliament group deputy head, told Reuters.

“It is impossible to discuss these issues with such a party and such a style,” he said.

Erdogan’s earlier and more ambitious plans to draft a new constitution were shelved after the closure case.

Turkish president blasts France and Germany for ‘shortage of EU vision’

ANKARA (AFP) – Turkish President Abdullah Gul said yesterday that “a shortage of vision” was behind German and French objections to his country’s struggling bid to join the European Union.

Speaking after talks with visiting Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva, Gul said Turkey was determined to pursue reforms aimed at EU membership.

“Politicians come and go... They may say some things for various reasons – and maybe because of a shortage of vision – but we will not pay attention to that,” he said.

His comments came in response to a question about recent statements by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, both reiterating their opposition to Turkey’s EU membership and suggesting a special status for the Muslim-majority country.

“Turkey will pursue the negotiation process with determination... The reforms will continue,” Gul said.

The Portuguese president backed Ankara, stressing that Turkey’s accession was important for regional security.

“Portugal has lent full support to Turkey from the very beginning,” Silva said. “Turkey’s strategic position is very important for world peace... The European Union needs Turkey.” Turkey began membership talks in 2005, but it has so far opened negotiations on only 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidates must complete.