Turks to vote on constitutional changes

09/09/2010

Ahead of Sunday's referendum, voters wonder how much of a difference it will make.

By Alexander Christie-Miller for Southeast European Times -- 09/09/10

A sign reading "Yes" -- part of the government’s campaign for the referendum -- displayed outside the New Mosque in Istanbul. [Getty Images]

As Turkey prepares for a referendum on constitutional amendments, voters and commentators have expressed disappointment that the proposed reforms do not go further.

Polling released this week suggests that the vote Sunday (September 12th) could be close. A poll that Taraf newspaper published on Monday suggested that 51% would vote in favour of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government's amendment package, with 49% opposing it.

However, other polls suggest that government will win the referendum more easily, placing support for the measures at around 55%.

But even supporters have accused the government of merely tinkering at the edges of Turkey's unpopular and undemocratic constitution, which was written by the army in 1982 following a military coup.

"It is not sufficient but it is a step for a new constitution," Hudazin Yasin, 27, from Cizre, in southeastern Turkey, told SETimes. He and many others want to see the coup-era constitution ditched altogether.

"If a new constitution does not follow this referendum, I think this referendum does not work," he said.

The measures in the referendum, which will take place on the 30th anniversary of the 1980 coup, will strip the generals who seized power of the legal immunity they gave themselves.

The symbolic date of the vote is no accident: the government has tried to generate support by portraying the vote as a 'reckoning' with Turkey's dark past, in which military intervention has often triggered periods of oppression and torture by the state.

Mustafa Demir, 50, a retired steelworker from Istanbul, says the measures are "better than nothing", and says the referendum is crucial for the country.

"I think Turkey is at stake," he said. "It will affect Turkey in a positive way if the referendum ended with 'yes'. If it ends with 'no', nothing will change -- the previous system will go on."

The most controversial elements are the changes being proposed to the country's top court, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors. The reforms would give the government and parliament a greater say over the appointment of Board members.

Opponents accuse the government of destroying judicial independence, but supporters say the changes will stop the judiciary from interfering in the political and governing processes.

However, even among the supporters, the attitude is one of "good, but not enough", according to newspaper columnist and human rights lawyer Orhan Kemal Cengiz.

"I'd like to see a brand new constitution," Cengiz told SETimes. "Most of the democrats in Turkey have similar reservations. We're voting yes because we believe it's a step forward and we believe in this way we will show the government that we want to see a new constitution."

Both the AKP and the opposition Republican People's Party have vowed that they will draw up a totally new constitution after the referendum.

As it is, the limited nature of the current reforms, coupled with the intense campaigning surrounded them, have left many feeling apathetic.

Elvan Salman, 24, a student from Istanbul, said she was thinking about boycotting the referendum.

"I have no faith in any kind of a great change suggested by two opposing sides as a result of this referendum. I think we will neither be freer, nor will the independence of the judiciary will be dissolved," she told SETimes.

"Unless the mentality in Turkish politics changes, it will be business as usual."