Referendum in Turkey

Turkey has voted for more democracy. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won hands down a constitutional referendum, which tends to strengthen democracy in the country at the cost of political preponderance the military has enjoyed since the birth of the modern Turkish state.
Another state institution that would lose some of its clout as a consequence of the referendum is the judiciary, which over the years impeded the AKP's reform agenda by insisting that the party intends to undermine the secular character of the state.
But the majority of Turkish voters have supported the AKP -although the opponents argue that given the 22-clause ballot's take-it-or-leave-it-all format, they had not much of a choice. Rightly then, in the words of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has "crossed a historic threshold towards advanced democracy and the supremacy of law".
That the constitutional referendum also caters to the changes aimed at bringing Turkey in line with European Union's accession criterion, is no less a significant development for the country. The European Commission has welcomed the referendum outcome as "a step in right direction", even when the insistence remains that the "impact (of the referendum results) would depend on implementation".
Of the two dozen constitutional amendments put to vote, most concern measures that open up the society for greater democratisation. Not only gender equality has been ensured and workers allowed to join labour unions of their choice and go on strike, the amended constitution would set up an ombudsman to admit private citizens' cases against government institutions.
However, the genesis of the constitutional reforms referendum rests in the lingering conflict between Turkey's democratic forces and the proponents of the army-centred status quo. The Erdogan-led AKP doesn't claim to be an Islamic party but insists that Turkey is a Muslim majority country and its citizens have the right to live in accordance with the dictates of their faith.
That the judiciary had rejected the party's plan to allow women in universities and colleges to wear head-scarves, is the kind of confrontation that the voted reforms would rule out in future. The reforms also envisage a fairly enlarged judiciary - enlargement to be recommended by the parliament - and allow the civilian courts to entertain cases against military personnel, possibly making it possible for the government to try the 1980 coup-makers, including former chief General Kenan Evern.
That the referendum success places victory in the general election next year in the lap of the ruling AKP government, there is not much doubt. But challenges remain for the Gul-Erdogan government, especially in the light of the fact that street power still remains with the opponents of the constitutional reforms. The country's most important city, Istanbul, did not support the reforms package.
Then there is no dearth of groups and parties who would like to project the AKP vote in the referendum, has a spectacular rise of political Islam in Turkey - although that's not President Obama's perspective on this issue who hailed the referendum outcome as "a vibrancy of Turkish democracy". No wonder a pragmatic Erdogan has described the yes-sayers and no-sayers as "equal winners". The envisaged constitutional amendments drastically restructure the judiciary and curb army power that was necessary to harmonise Turkish politics with the present day realities and to give it the much-needed democratic and humane ambience.