Turks voted on Sunday on whether to amend a military-era Constitution in what the government says is a key step in Turkey’s path to full democracy, despite opposition claims that the proposed reforms would shackle the independence of the courts.
The referendum on 26 amendments to a Constitution that was crafted after a 1980 military coup has become a battleground between the Islamic-oriented government and traditional power elites that believe Turkey’s secular principles are under threat. The outcome will set the stage for elections next year in a strategically-located NATO ally whose regional clout has surged in recent years.
Street clashes marred voting at several polling stations in provinces with large Kurdish populations. A Kurdish party has urged supporters to boycott the ballot, arguing that the proposed changes would not advance the rights of the ethnic minority.
Since Saturday, police nationwide have detained 138 people suspected of threatening people into boycotting the vote or casting their ballot in a certain way, Interior Minister Besir Atalay said.
In Ankara, the Turkish capital, President Abdullah Gul appealed for harmony in a country that, if divided on other levels, was fiercely united on one front this weekend. In an Istanbul arena on Sunday night, Turkey faces the United States in the final of the world basketball championships.
“From tomorrow onwards, Turkey needs to unite as one, and look ahead. Turkey should focus all its energy on the issues its people are facing and the future of the country,” Mr. Gul said after voting. “The public has the final say in democracies. I would like to remind everyone to welcome the result with respect and maturity.”
Voting stations closed at 4 pm (6.30 pm IST) in eastern Turkey, and an hour later elsewhere in the country, with results expected in the evening. About 50 million Turks, or two-thirds of the population, were eligible to vote. Some surveys indicate the referendum will pass; others have pointed to a tight contest.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voted in Istanbul with his wife and daughter, posing for the media with the envelope in his hands and saying the referendum was an important step for Turkish democracy.
The date evoked Turkey’s traumatic past. Sunday was the 30th anniversary of a coup that curbed years of political and street chaos but led to widespread arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings, and Kurdish militants launched a rebellion a few years later that continues today. The military’s long shadow over Turkish politics has begun to wane only in the last few years.
The civilian government says the amendments fall in line with European Union requirements for membership, partly by making the military more accountable to civilian courts and allowing civil servants to go on strike. The opposition, however, believes a provision that would give Parliament more say in appointing judges masks an attempt to control the courts, which have sparred with Mr. Erdogan’s camp.
