[Event of the week]
Turkey set to hold referendum despite Constitutional Court’s partial annulment

The court, which announced its decision late Wednesday night, rejected an opposition appeal to scrap the entire package and said the remaining elements would be referred to   a referendum as planned. The court partially annulled two articles that would have redefined the process of electing members to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). The decision came in spite of a report by the court’s rapporteur, Ali Rıza Çoban, that any annulment would be equivalent to going into the substance of the package, and the fact that the Constitutional Court can only review constitutional amendments legislated by Parliament on procedural grounds. The government had wanted to broaden the selection of candidates and give Parliament and the president a bigger say in their selection.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling met mixed reaction on the part of Turkey’s political parties. While the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) expressed hope about the results of a planned public referendum on the package, the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) vowed to vote against the amendments in the referendum.

The court partially annulled two of the package’s articles based in part on substance in what legal experts called a violation of the authority the high court as defined by Article 148 of Turkey’s Constitution; the Constitutional Court is only empowered to examine proposed constitutional amendments on procedural grounds -- it has no authority to rule on content.

The package now will go to referendum on Sept. 12 as scheduled.

The court annulled a provision that would have kept members of HSYK and the Constitutional Court from voting for more than one candidate. The provision that would have allowed the president to assign political science academics or senior executives to the two judicial bodies was also canceled.

 Two civilians, including a 16-year-old boy, and two village guards were injured after Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists carried out simultaneous attacks against four military units in the Beytüşşebap district of the southeastern province of Şırnak on Saturday.

 Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu made clear that Israel has only two options in preventing a complete break-off in bilateral ties with Turkey: One is offering an official apology to Turkey because its commandos killed eight Turks on an aid ship in international waters during a deadly May 31 raid, and the other is consenting to an international investigation into the raid. “The recovery of relations is not possible as long as Israel doesn’t apologize. They listened to our demands and said they would convey them to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Davutoğlu said.

July 4 Sunday

 Nine people were killed and 45 were wounded when a passenger bus collided with a truck carrying rocks in the southern province of Osmaniye after midnight on Sunday. The crash occurred near Osmaniye’s Düziçi district when a passenger bus, driven by Mehmet Hanifi, en route to Ankara, collided into the side of a truck, driven by Mehmet Dede.

 Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli told reporters on Sunday that he had received an invitation to visit Gediktepe on the Turkish-Iraqi border but refused to go there. Eleven Turkish soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in Gediktepe, in eastern Hakkari province, staged by PKK terrorists last month. “I received an invitation to visit [Gediktepe], but conveyed my decision not to accept the offer,” Bahçeli said.

July 5 Monday

 A rapporteur for the Constitutional Court recommended that justices dismiss an appeal to review a reform package sponsored by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), in line with a similar ruling in the past. The top court on Monday held its first review session on the package following its acceptance of an appeal by the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP), which argued that some judicial reforms included in the package violate the constitutional principle of separation of powers. The Supreme Election Board (YSK) has set the referendum date for the package as Sept. 12.

 Despite warnings from Ankara that Turkish-Israeli relations might be discontinued should Tel Aviv fail to apologize over its deadly raid on a Turkish aid ship, Israel has no intention to issue such an apology, its foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said on Monday. “We don’t have any intention to apologize. We think that the opposite is true,” he was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters after meeting Latvia’s foreign minister during a visit to the Baltic state.

 Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin stated that the government is making the utmost effort to see a bill that introduces restrictions on sentences handed out to minors for throwing stones at security forces in demonstrations in the predominantly Kurdish Southeast is passed this summer before Parliament goes into recess.

 The 17th anniversary of an incident known as the Başbağlar massacre, in which 33 people were killed in an attack on the village of Başbağlar in Erzincan on July 5, 1993, was commemorated in the village with the participation of State Minister Faruk Çelik and other civilian and military officials. The attack was attributed to the outlawed PKK at the time and came only three days after the Madımak incident, which took place on July 2, 1993, in Sivas, where 35 Alevis were killed at the Madımak Hotel when it was set on fire following provocations. The victims of the Madımak incident had traveled to the city to attend the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival.

 Col. Dursun Çiçek, suspected to be behind an alleged military plot against the ruling AK Party, was cross-examined at the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court on Monday in the trial of the instigators of the plot, known as the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism.

 Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ once again topped the agenda in Turkey with his much-disputed remarks about hot issues, including a suspected military plot to undermine the ruling party and a faith-based civilian group and an ongoing probe into a clandestine criminal organization accused of working to overthrow the government, known as Ergenekon. While on Uğur Dündar’s “Arena” television program on Monday evening, the military chief complained about the disclosure of the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism to civilian prosecutors rather than responding to questions over how the plot was prepared by members of the military.

July 6 Tuesday

 Prosecutors overseeing an ongoing probe into a suspected military coup plan submitted the indictment, which mentions 270 suspects, to the İstanbul 10th High Criminal Court for examination. The court has two weeks to either accept the indictment or return it to prosecutors for further work. The indictment points to retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the former head of the 1st Army, as the prime suspect.

 Ankara police took 58 Greenpeace activists into custody on Tuesday during a demonstration protesting the establishment of nuclear power plants in the northern province of Sinop and the southern province of Mersin. The protest took place in front of Parliament in Ankara.

 Three soldiers were killed and three others injured when outlawed PKK terrorists attacked a gendarmerie outpost in the Şemdinli district of southeastern Hakkari province early Tuesday, the Hakkari Governor’s Office announced. Another soldier was killed late Tuesday when terrorists attacked an outpost in Batman.

 Foreign Minister Davutoğlu insisted that Turkey is demanding an official apology from Israel because its commandos killed eight Turkish citizens on an aid ship in international waters during a deadly May 31 raid despite Israeli statements that it won’t offer one. Davutoğlu, speaking in a live televised interview, dismissed statements from Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman that Israel will not apologize because its soldiers killed eight Turks and one American on the ship Mavi Marmara while trying to defend themselves.

 In a move likely to foil hopes for a consensus between his party and the government on a way to solve the rising terrorism in the country, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said he might meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss the issue only if the prime minister meets a series of pre-conditions.

 In response to recent claims that special teams are no longer guarding İmralı Island in the Marmara Sea where terrorist PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is imprisoned, the Justice Ministry released details about the island’s security operations. The General Staff had transferred the task of ensuring the coastal security of the island to the Coast Guard Command (SGK) from the Naval Forces Command and the external security of the island has been transferred to a special team from the Gendarmerie General Command from the General Staff’s Special Forces Command, the statement said.

 Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said that the presence of PKK terrorist camps in northern Iraq is unacceptable and that they must be destroyed. At a press conference following his meeting with the editors-in-chief of several newspapers and news agencies in İstanbul on Tuesday, Atalay said no country would allow such camps.

July 7 Wednesday

 Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin has said it is “normal” for political leaders to meet and exchange views and that they can even visit each other at their homes. “I would like to see our leaders meet from time to time, get together at their homes, drink tea and coffee. This would be a relief to the public. They should be able to do this,” he said, answering reporters’ questions yesterday regarding speculation over whether Prime Minister Erdoğan would meet with opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to discuss the Kurdish question.

 Ankara Police Chief Orhan Özdemir was arrested yesterday over allegations of involvement in a tender-rigging operation in the Anatolian city of Kayseri. The police chief, who had been hospitalized at the İbn-i Sina Hospital for treatment for an infection, was brought to the Ankara Courthouse early yesterday by ambulance. Özdemir was arrested by the Ankara 11th Criminal Court.

 The Constitutional Court annulled key parts of a package of government-backed constitutional reforms in a ruling that pleased neither the government nor the opposition. The court, which announced its decision late Wednesday night, rejected an opposition appeal to scrap the entire package and said the remaining elements would be put to referendum as planned. The court partially annulled two articles redefining the process of electing members to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).

 Three miners were trapped underground following a mine fire on Wednesday in Edirne’s Keşan district.

July 8 Thursday

 One soldier was killed and six others were injured when a military vehicle rolled off the shoulder of a road in the Başkale district of Van on Thursday. The car was reportedly heading from the village of Aşağı Durak to a battalion command in Albayrak village when it went off the road near Koçdağı.

 Dozens of houses were flooded in İstanbul’s Esenyurt district following a sudden 30-minute rainstorm yesterday that blocked sewers and turned streets into rivers. After the State Meteorology Bureau issued a warning about heavy showers in İstanbul, the city’s Disaster Coordination Center (AKOM) went on alert. While the rain did not cause many major problems in most of the city, Esenyurt’s Atatürk neighborhood was badly affected.

July 9 Friday

 The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) said in one of its reports that outlawed PKK leader Öcalan, who is serving a life sentence in prison on the island of İmralı in the Sea of Marmara, is being held in good conditions, that he is not being subjected to ill treatment, that his prison conditions have improved and that he does not suffer from any major health problems.