Turkey has taken a decisive step to reduce the influence of the military on its domestic affairs after Turks voted to amend their constitution in an historic referendum.
Voters endorsed a package of constitutional changes put forward by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party to bring Turkey into line with the rest of the European Union, including paving the way for the prosecution of the leaders of the country’s military coup in 1980 and empowering civil courts to try officers for crimes perpetrated against the state.
The referendum, which saw Turks vote by 58 to 42 per cent in favour of changing the constitution, was held on the 30th anniversary of the Turkish military’s intervention. The coup, the third in the history of Kemal Ataturk’s secular republic, which rose out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, resulted in the adoption of Turkey’s current constitution.
Some commentators argue that serious human rights violations took place during and in the immediate aftermath of the coup while others credit the military for restoring order following a decade of internal fighting between left-wing and right-wing groups, allegedly supported by, respectively, the Soviet Union and the United States.
Commenting on the result of the referendum, a jubilant Mr Erdogan said that Turkey had “crossed an historic threshold toward advanced democracy and the supremacy of law.”
In Brussels, the result was received with praise and the recognition that Ankara is now firmly on track in its goal to join the EU.
Labour MEP Richard Howitt, who is a member of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee, said: “Turkey’s detractors who would have seized on a ‘no’ vote should now accept that the high turnout to approve the constitutional reforms marks the deep will of the Turkish people that their country should continue on the path of reform.
“The bitter polarisation during the referendum campaign shows that Turkey is prepared to confront challenges in its domestic politics in the interest of its future European security. It is a challenge to EU members to show the same resolve in confronting opposition to Turkey in our own countries.”
The result of the referendum is likely to increase tension between the Turkish military and the ruling AKP. Turkey’s generals are deeply suspicious that Mr Erdogan and the AKP have a hidden Islamist agenda and constitute a serious threat to the tenets of Ataturk’s secular Turkish republic.
