Baykal lashes out at govt reaction to top court ruling

Speaking at his party's parliamentary group meeting yesterday, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal warned Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to attempt to change the Constitution to establish a judiciary of his own. Lashing out at the government reaction to last week's Constitutional Court ruling upholding the university headscarf ban, Baykal said, "They argue that the court cannot discuss the content of (constitutional) amendments. But if they attempt to change articles of the Constitution which are unalterable and whose alteration can't even be proposed, who will decide on this?" Stressing that every country has sacred political elements, Baykal said that Turkey's sacred Constitutional principle is secularism, adding that among 53 Muslim countries, Turkey is the sole secular example. No one is openly proposing changing this sacred principle, but rather trying to do it indirectly, but the top court wouldn't allow it, added Baykal.