Bagis: "Regional countries seeking change are looking towards Turkey"

Turkey's odyssey from military guardianship to possible European Union membership is being watched by countries seeking change in the Balkans, Central Asia, and especially the Middle East and North Africa, as a shining example, State Minister and EU Talks Negotiator Egemen Bagis told Reuters this week. "People who are risking their lives in Syria, in Tunisia, in Egypt are demanding democracy, reform and human rights – in a way desiring to become like Turkey," Bagis said. He added that Turkey needs a new constitution to make a clean break from the old one – essentially authoritarian in spirit – written in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup.