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European socialist leader calls on CHP to back reforms
The Republican People’s Party (CHP), which describes itself as a social democrat party, has launched a campaign against the constitutional amendment package, with its new leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, declaring last week that voting down the measure during a referendum slated for Sept. 12 would benefit the country. But Hannes Swoboda, the vice president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, said the reforms bring more democracy and more freedom to the Turkish people.
“This package is important for Turkish citizens and for the European Union,” Swoboda told the Anatolia news agency on Sunday in Dubrovnik. He said the package would extend freedoms, noting in particular the proposed reforms regarding the high judiciary and military.
The CHP sought to get the reforms canceled at the Constitutional Court but its effort failed, with the court rejecting the request and making minor changes in two articles instead. The ruling, released last week, paved the way for a referendum on the package on Sept. 12, ironically the anniversary of a 1980 military coup under which the current Constitution was drafted. Proponents of the package say the reforms would reverse the changes introduced during the coup era, such as privileges granted to the military and the high judiciary, institutions seen by the secularist establishment as the guardian of the regime.
The package proposes changes to the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which appoints senior judicial figures, and the Constitutional Court by increasing their membership. In a reform that would further curb powers of the once-untouchable military, the reform also allows the trial of military officials in civilian courts for crimes committed against the security of the state and constitutional order.
The EU, which has long called for reform in the judiciary and complained of military influence in civilian political life, has expressed support for the package. “We as the EU support the democratization and reform process in Turkey and this package promotes reforms and freedoms,” Swoboda was quoted as saying by Anatolia. “Therefore we support this package.”
Kılıçdaroğlu, who was elected the CHP leader after its previous leader resigned over a sex tape scandal in May, was widely welcomed in Europe as a leader who could revise his predecessor’s strong anti-EU policies. But the rift over the constitutional reform has the potential to undermine his positive image in Brussels in the very early stages of his term at the helm of the CHP.
“Our advice for the CHP and its new leader is to stand behind this package and support it,” Swoboda said.
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