Turkey Referendum Vote Is Big Win for Ruling Party

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Sept. 13) -- Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has never looked stronger after voters Sunday strongly endorsed 26 constitutional amendments that the opposition says will cement the party's control over the country.

In a victory speech delivered in Istanbul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the vote "a historic step for the struggle of advanced democracy and the rule of law."

The new laws give the government a larger role in selecting judges and strengthen civilian control of Turkey's military. They also provide new protections on personal privacy, give labor unions more rights and allow for preferential policies for women to redress discrimination.

Just under 58 percent of Turks voted "yes" in the referendum, which had been described as a litmus test for how AKP will fare in 2011 elections. The strong result suggests AKP will likely be able to form a majority government after the elections next year without having to seek a coalition partner or appeal to individual opposition parliamentarians.

The United States and the European Union have welcomed the result, believing that it brings Turkey closer to fulfilling the requirements for its longstanding bid to join the E.U. "These reforms are a step in the right direction," Stefan Fuele, the EU Commissioner for enlargement, said in a statement reported by the BBC.

Along with showing the strength of AKP and desire for constitutional change within Turkey, the vote also highlighted the scattered nature of the opposition, which had tried to marshal opposition around fears that the mildly Islamist AKP is out to undermine the secular nature of the Turkish state.

Main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was unable to even take part in the vote because he wasn't registered to vote. He claimed that police had unregistered him from his house in Istanbul when he moved to Ankara, but after rushing back to Ankara on polling day was told he couldn't vote there either. Kilicdaroglu maintained that as a high-ranking politician, he should be able to vote anywhere, but after hours of negotiations the country's national elections council refused to make an exception for him.

Henri J. Barkey, a Turkey expert with the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, said that Kilicdaroglu's failure to even vote was "symbolic" after a series of greater failures on the part of the opposition. "[The results] will lead to more disorganization in the opposition," Barkey said. "Not only have they been further discredited, but it paves the way for a lot of inner turmoil."

The opposition's fumbling contrasts with the growing pull of AKP and its reform efforts. The majority of Turks believe that the current constitution, which was written after a 1980 military coup, must be reformed, and these amendments are a first move in that direction. For that reason, they were supported by adherents of smaller parties and some from the opposition ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

"The amendments are better than nothing," said Musafa Demir, 50, a lifelong MHP voter living in Istanbul. "Resisting against the desire to change is against nature. It is weird that they do not accept any kind of change within the system."

The results are likely to speed AKP efforts to begin writing a new constitution, even as the party is poised to form a government after the next parliamentary election.

Speaking of the current constitution, Erdogan said that the referendum had closed the era of military coups and opened a new page in history.

"It is only the beginning," he said.