ANKARA, May 4 (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament on Tuesday gave enough backing to a proposal to overhaul Turkey's top court for it to remain within a constitutional reform package, keeping the government's reform hopes alive after a setback on Monday.
The plan to change the way judges are appointed to the Constitutional Court gained 337 votes from the 550-seat parliament, falling short of the 367 votes needed to be accepted outright but passing the 330 vote threshold for it to pass to a further round of voting.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AK), which hopes to win a third consecutive term in a general election due by July 2011, has put constitutional reform at the top of its agenda.
While all parties agree on the need to reform a charter written under military rule in 1982, critics accuse the AK party of using reforms to undermine the independence of the judiciary, a bastion of Turkey's secular establishment and to install its supporters in the Constitutional Court.
Erdogan says the change are needed to bring Turkey closer to EU democratic norms.
On Monday parliament rejected one of the key articles of the amendment which would have made it harder to ban political parties. Some of Erdogan's own party members broke ranks to vote against the proposal, now dropped from the reform package.
The EU has criticised Turkey's political parties law, under which almost 20 parties have been banned, and the AK Party itself narrowly survived a court attempt to close it down on the grounds that it contravened the country's secular constitution.
Article 17 of the reform package, concerning the Constitutional Court, will now progress to a final round of voting expected later this week, possibly on Thursday.
Another key proposal on reform of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) is due on Wednesday.
Erdogan has said he will call a referendum to force through changes if the vote fails to secure the necessary support to pass the reform package as a whole.
The main opposition party has said it would appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the amendments.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Tim Pearce) Keywords: TURKEY CONSTITUTION/VOTE (ibon.villelabeitia@reuters.com; Telephone: +90 312 292 7022; Reuters Messaging: ibon.villelabeitia.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The plan to change the way judges are appointed to the Constitutional Court gained 337 votes from the 550-seat parliament, falling short of the 367 votes needed to be accepted outright but passing the 330 vote threshold for it to pass to a further round of voting.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AK), which hopes to win a third consecutive term in a general election due by July 2011, has put constitutional reform at the top of its agenda.
While all parties agree on the need to reform a charter written under military rule in 1982, critics accuse the AK party of using reforms to undermine the independence of the judiciary, a bastion of Turkey's secular establishment and to install its supporters in the Constitutional Court.
Erdogan says the change are needed to bring Turkey closer to EU democratic norms.
On Monday parliament rejected one of the key articles of the amendment which would have made it harder to ban political parties. Some of Erdogan's own party members broke ranks to vote against the proposal, now dropped from the reform package.
The EU has criticised Turkey's political parties law, under which almost 20 parties have been banned, and the AK Party itself narrowly survived a court attempt to close it down on the grounds that it contravened the country's secular constitution.
Article 17 of the reform package, concerning the Constitutional Court, will now progress to a final round of voting expected later this week, possibly on Thursday.
Another key proposal on reform of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) is due on Wednesday.
Erdogan has said he will call a referendum to force through changes if the vote fails to secure the necessary support to pass the reform package as a whole.
The main opposition party has said it would appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the amendments.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; editing by Tim Pearce) Keywords: TURKEY CONSTITUTION/VOTE (ibon.villelabeitia@reuters.com; Telephone: +90 312 292 7022; Reuters Messaging: ibon.villelabeitia.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.