Turk court backs government reform plans and referendum

Turkey's top court on Thursday unexpectedly backed the Islamist-rooted government's plans to hold a referendum on constitutional reforms that would allow voters instead of parliament to elect future presidents.
The Constitutional Court rejected appeals from both the main opposition party and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer to quash the reforms on a legal technicality, paving the way for a referendum probably in October or November.
The ruling gives a boost to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his centre-right AK Party as they campaign for re-election in July 22 parliamentary polls they are widely tipped to win.
Opinion polls show strong public support for the reforms, which the AK Party proposed after opposition parties in May blocked the election in parliament of its presidential candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. "There will be a referendum," Hasim Kilic, deputy head of the Constitutional Court, told a news conference.
Asked whether this meant the Turkish people would be able to elect their president directly, Kilic said: "Undoubtedly." But, assuming they do back the reforms, Turkish voters will probably not have a chance to elect their president directly until 2014, that is after Sezer's successor - due to be chosen by parliament this summer - has served a full seven-year term.
The row over the presidential election forced Erdogan to call the parliamentary election in July, months early. Sezer, a staunch secularist opponent of the AK Party government, had been due to retire in May but parliament's failure to choose his successor forced him to stay on as caretaker head of state.
Turkey's secular elite, which includes judges and army generals as well as Sezer and the main opposition parties, fears the AK Party would try to boost the role of religion, a claim the government strongly denies.
Most analysts had expected the Constitutional Court to uphold the opposition appeal and to rule the reforms invalid. In May, the court had backed the opposition against the government in a row over how many MPs need to be in parliament for a presidential election to be valid, setting the quorum at two-thirds, or 367, in the 550-seat parliament.
Many saw that court ruling as politically motivated. The court later said its decision was aimed at encouraging the politicians to compromise over the presidency. Turkey is a parliamentary republic in which the government holds most power. But the president appoints some key officials and can veto laws once. He is also commander in chief and wields great symbolic clout as heir to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of the modern Turkish republic.
Turkish financial markets, which showed little reaction to Thursday's ruling, have soared in recent days, partly in a belief the AK Party will have to compromise with opposition parties in the new parliament over a presidential candidate.