Intellectuals laud reform package, opposition divided in reaction

The AK Party started deliberations on the content of the package with all the political parties represented in Parliament on Monday. The ruling party will present the package to other political parties that are not represented in the legislature as well. The package will take its final shape after consultations with the other parties.

The government's attempt to change the existing Constitution, which was drafted under a period of martial law after the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d'état, has been met with enthusiasm by intellectuals. According to Serap Yazıcı, an expert in constitutional law and also an academic at Istanbul Bilgi University, the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and the Constitutional Court need to be restructured.

“The structures of those two institutions do not conform to the structures of their precedents in democratic countries. Turkey needs to restructure the HSYK and the Constitutional Court to comply with standards in the Western world,” she remarked.

The government wants to pass constitutional amendments to restructure the HSYK and the Constitutional Court. Its aim is to ensure a more democratic selection and promotion process in the higher judiciary, which would be open to parliamentary review.

The overhaul of the HSYK, which appoints officers of the court, is among the most contentious issues in the package. The judicial reform package is intended to prevent the HSYK from being a board that acts according to ideological impulse. The most important change in terms of the guarantees of judges and prosecutors is allowing judicial oversight of the board’s decisions. In addition, procedures to select HSYK members will be redesigned to ensure that the HSYK represents a range of opinions, not just one view. The package would increase the number of HSYK members from seven to 21.

A group of intellectuals, led by professors Baskın Oran, Binnaz Toprak and Halil Berktay, released a statement yesterday in which they expressed support for government efforts to create a new constitution. “The principal need of Turkey on its path to democratization is the replacement of the Constitution -- which is a product of the Sept. 12 military takeover -- with an egalitarian, pro-freedom and democratic constitution,” the statement read.

Intellectuals also listed their own proposals for a more democratic constitution, among which appear the abolishment of the election threshold for political parties, the equal distribution of financial aid for political parties, the overhaul of the Law on Political Parties and the Election Law and broader political representation for women.

Turkey’s opposition parties were, however, divided into two camps on their reaction to the package.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) announced that they would by no means support the AK Party’s plans for constitutional change. “We still maintain our position of not lending support to the constitutional reform package,” stated CHP parliamentary group deputy chairman Hakkı Suha Okay, while Mehmet Şandır, the deputy chairman of the MHP, said the Constitution should be changed by the Parliament that will be formed after the parliamentary elections slated for 2011.

Temporary Article 15 of the Constitution was added by the 1980 coup generals and bans any legal action against them. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), on the other hand, pledged to act as a “constructive opposition party” regarding the constitutional reform package. The party’s parliamentary deputy group chairman Ayla Akat Ata complained that Turkey was still being governed by a coup constitution.

“It is a fact that what Turkey needs most is a civilian, democratic and pluralist constitution. Political steps to that end would be the greatest service to our country,” Ata said, and added that her party would deliver a detailed statement on the package after a comprehensive examination.

The Democratic Left Party (DSP), which has six deputies in Parliament, also stressed Turkey’s need for a new constitution. The party’s leader, Masum Türker, told Today’s Zaman that his party would support most articles in the package. The Supreme Court of Appeals is set to convene today to deliberate the on content of the constitutional reform package.

HSYK Deputy Chairman Kadir Özbek expressed his dislike of the package’s articles on his board’s structure, saying those articles were aimed at increasing the influence of Parliament and the government on the judiciary.