Cementing the power of the group that is working to destroy Turkish secularism and establish Turkey as an Islamic state. “Erdogan Announces Legal Changes to Curb Powers of Courts, Army,” by Steve Bryant and Ali Berat Meric for Bloomberg, March 22 (thanks to Twostellas):
March 22 (Bloomberg) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to rein in the power of the country’s top judges and generals, who have opposed his Islamist-rooted government.
Proposed constitutional changes would give parliament in Ankara the power to prevent closure of political parties, and allow civilian courts to try army officers including leaders of the 1980 military coup, according to a draft posted on the governing Justice and Development Party’s Web site today.
The party escaped closure by one vote on the 11-member Constitutional Court when it was charged with undermining secularism in 2008. The changes would expand the court to 19 members, including three selected by parliament from among candidates named by judges and lawyers. They would also stop prosecutors from using parliament speeches as evidence in any case to shut down a party….
This is because in the past the Court has shut down pro-Sharia parties, including one in which Erdogan himself was active.