Ankara, March 01: Turkey’s democratically elected ruling party is to revise the constitution before the end of March, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday, amid an unprecedented crisis with the powerful military.
“This will not be about completely revising the constitution, but we are envisaging to amend certain articles,” notably on the banning of political parties and on the judiciary, Erdogan told journalists.
The announcement came as tensions rose between Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the military, with dozens of officers rounded up accused of plotting to overthrow the government in 2003.
Prosecutors in Istanbul on Sunday questioned 15 of the 33 soldiers arrested so far in the probe, reports said. Five were subsequently released, with the 10 others set to appear before a court, Anatolia news agency said.
“We will proceed quickly in order to talk to the other political parties,” represented in parliament,” Erdogan said, adding that the changes were part of Turkey’s efforts to conform with European democratic norms.
Turkey’s current constitution was drawn up in the wake of a 1980 coup d’etat and has been widely contested since.
The constitution has already undergone serious changes, notably in 2001 and 2004, to allow Turkey to satisfy conditions for opening European Union accession talks.
Revising the constitution was one of the AKP’s key objectives when it won a landslide victory in 2007.
But implementing changes to the constitution has since faltered because of the opposition of the influential army.
The AKP does not have the parliamentary majority necessary to change the constitution on its own however and may opt for a referendum if it cannot garner opposition support.
Changing the constitution to make it more difficult to dissolve political parties has caused a political storm. The army sought to ban the AKP itself in 2008 for “anti-secular” allegations.
Erdogan on Saturday proposed that parliament would have to give the go-ahead to any demand to ban a party coming from the courts, days after dozens of officers were arrested for alleged coup activities and two retired generals charged.
The Turkish army has traditionally wielded significant influence on politics, having toppled four governments over the last 50 years, but has seen its clout wane under the AKP.
The alleged coup plan — codenamed “Operation Sledgehammer” — is said to have been drafted and discussed within the Istanbul-based First Army division in 2003, shortly after the AKP came to power amid fears that it would undermine the secular system.
The plot allegedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece to force the downing of a Turkish jet, sparking political chaos and justifying a military takeover against the government.
The Council of Europe called last year for constitutional reform in Turkey, saying the effective separation of powers and the democratic functioning of its institutions are “crucial for the modernisation of the Turkish state”.
A council parliamentary committee said the political crisis which shook Turkey in 2007 and 2008 had highlighted the “weakness” of the country’s constitutional and legal framework.
—Agencies