The Turkish Parliament has passed the bill on constitutional
amendments with 336 out of 550 lawmakers in favor.
According to Interfax, citing a local TV channel, the bill will be
sent to President Abdullah Gul for signing. If the Turkish leader
returns it for consideration the bill will go to a referendum. This
situation occurred because the legislative initiative failed to
receive over 367 votes.
The legislative package was proposed by the ruling Justice and
Development Party (JDP). The national vote will consider the bill as a
single item, without having to view every article separately. The
amendments need 50% + one vote to pass.
The amendments change over 20 regulations in the Constitution, adopted
in 1982. The main attention was paid to the judicial system, the
change in the composition of court and the structure of the
Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and prosecution council.
Juridical control of civil authorities will be implemented over the
High Military Council. The military will no longer have the right to
judge civilians for military violations in peacetime.
