It is expected to discuss the details of the package with opposition parties next week. Since the main opposition parties, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), announced earlier that they would not back the package, the AK Party government said it might present it to the public for approval in a referendum. Although the scale of the reform package is limited, many hail the fact that the government is pressing ahead with it despite the resistance of the opposition. Analysts say this small-scale reform package will bring Turkey to its goal of becoming a truly democratic country that is governed by the rule of law and free of military tutelage.Star’s Mustafa Karaalioğlu says the small-scale constitutional reform package that is emerging today represents the nation’s will to change. He says the amendments in the reform package will not only eliminate the obtrusion of the judiciary through changes in the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) but will also bring novelty to daily life and raise the quality of democracy in the country. “The package seems to have a logic and consistency in itself,” says Karaalioğlu. Regarding plans to abolish Article 15 of the Constitution, which protects coup generals from legal action, he says opening the way for legal action against coup perpetrators is a symbolic revolution. Karaalioğlu notes that it is an embarrassing situation for Turkey, which suffered through four coups, to live with an article that protects coup perpetrators. “The protective shield remains a black cloud over every step taken for civilianization,” says Karaalioğlu.
Sabah’s Emre Aköz, who says the reform package includes very important changes, claims that the reforms will make secularist circles envious. Noting that the package will increase the number of members on the HSYK, Aköz says this will lessen the dominance of the pro-Republican People’s Party (CHP) mentality in the supreme judiciary to a great extent. As for making the closure of political parties more difficult and putting the Venice criteria into practice, he says political parties will be closed down only if they advocate violence and there is parliamentary approval for their closure. Aköz says the fact that a conservative party like the AK Party has initiated an article that supports affirmative action for women will make secularist women envy the AK Party. Regarding plans to open the decisions of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) to judicial review, Aköz explains that no one can talk about the supremacy of law in Turkey unless the military is prevented from acting arbitrarily. “Are these amendments sufficient? Of course not. There are many articles that need to be amended in the Constitution. Nevertheless, even this is a good start,” says Aköz.
Yeni Şafak’s Fehmi Koru says regardless of whether the constitutional reform package is approved by getting enough support in Parliament or is taken to referendum and then approved by the public, the implementation of the amendments in the package will undoubtedly make Turkey a more democratic state, strengthen the separation of powers and facilitate the transition to a state of law.
