With Gul's approval, constitutional reform package ready for referendum

President Abdullah Gul yesterday approved the government's constitutional amendment package, paving the way for a public referendum on the package. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), on the other hand, plans to appeal the package to the Constitutional Court. On May 7 Parliament passed the package by a vote of 336-72, except the rejected Article 8 to make closing political parties more difficult and a related provisional article. The bill is set to go to referendum on July 18 in line with the Constitution because it passed by less than a three-fifths majority. The two pillars of the reforms call for overhauling the Constitutional Court and restructuring of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, which is responsible for managing the judiciary. Under Article 17, the Constitutional Court would have a total of 17 regular members, including three appointed by Parliament, three chosen by the president from Supreme Court of Appeals nominees, two chosen from judges nominated by the Council of State, one by the Military Supreme Court of Appeals, one chosen from three nominees from the Military Higher Administrative Court, and three from judges nominated by the Board of Higher Education (YOK). Four other members will be appointed, again by the president, from among independently employed lawyers, first-class judges and prosecutors, and Constitutional Court rapporteurs who have served the high court for at least five years. It also would abolish the ban on the right to general strike, and give civil servants and other public officials the right to collective bargaining. It would enable trials of the Parliament speaker, chief of General Staff, and senior commanders by the High Tribunal on charges of crimes related to their duties.