Turk opposition seeks law change to thwart coups
Published: Jul 29, 2010 23:20 Updated: Jul 29, 2010 23:20
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s main opposition party sent a proposal to Parliament on Thursday to amend a 75-year-old law that enshrines the military’s role as guardian of the republic, and has been used in the past to justify coups.
The move was seen in part as an attempt by the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which saw gains in recent opinion polls, to steal the ruling AK Party’s thunder ahead of a September referendum on constitutional reform.
NATO’s second largest army staged three coups between 1960 and 1980, and in 1997 a military warning precipitated a government resignation.
The CHP lodged its proposal to amend a law on the role of the army as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party campaigned ahead of a Sept. 12 referendum on constitutional reforms.
“The legal proposal is aimed to prevent the wrongful interpretation of Article 35 and prevent it being viewed as providing justification for coups,” the CHP said in a statement to parliament.
Article 35 of the Armed Forces’ Internal Service law states it is the army’s responsibility to “watch over and protect” the country.
The amendment removes the reference to the army “watching over” the Republic. In its place, it says the military’s role is to protect the state “in the framework of the parliamentary democratic system and faithful to the constitution”.
The Sept. 12 plebiscite is being held on the 30th anniversary of the 1980 coup, which resulted in the 1982 constitution being drafted under military tutelage.
With a general election less than 12 months away, opinion polls show rising support for the CHP since a new leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, took over in May, and point to an erosion of support for the AK Party, which has held power since 2002.
A recent poll put CHP ahead of AK. While there is scepticism about the survey’s findings, it raised doubts about whether the AK Party could maintain single-party rule after the election.
Opinion polls are yet to give clear indications on whether the constitutional reforms will be approved in the referendum, which is being seen as a confidence test for the government.
Erdogan says the package of 26 articles will strengthen democracy and bring the secular Muslim nation’s constitution in line with European democracies.
The CHP, a center-left secularist party, says the package proposed by Erdogan is designed to help the AK Party consolidate its grip on power and undermine the independence of a judiciary regarded as the last bastion of Turkey’s secularist old guard.
While critics suspect the AK Party of harbouring Islamist tendencies because of the political pedigree of its leaders, the party sees itself as being a Muslim version of Europe’s conservative Christian Democrat parties.
Reforms undertaken by Erdogan to bolster a bid for EU membership have curbed the military’s power, and reduced the chances of another coup.
The AK Party sees the CHP’s move as a ploy to muddy waters ahead of the referendum, and Erdogan has countered by saying he would back changes to Article 35 if the CHP is serious. The law was introduced in 1935, during the final years of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.
Ataturk saved Turkey following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and drove out foreign occupying forces in a war of independence after World War One, and reverence for the soldier statesman is reflected in Turks’ abiding respect for the army.
