Yetmez ama EVET (Not enough but yes)

This article is meant for those who still need a small or a big push to vote 'yes' on September 12. Let me try and explain one more time why I think there are very good reasons to vote in favour of the constitutional amendments package.

• With all the attention focused on the reform of the high judicial bodies, one would almost forget that there is more on offer today. If this package will be adopted, Turkey will for instance finally get a so-called Ombudsman, a visible and easy reachable person where Turkish citizens can file their complaints about mistakes or malpractices of state institutions. In a country where historically the state plays such a dominant role and has committed so many blunders in the past, one should not underestimate the value of such a mechanism. The Ombudsman is only one example of the 24 proposed changes that are not disputed by anyone. Asked to vote for a package of various amendments, everybody will be faced with the question how to balance the good and the maybe not so good proposals. Nobody likes all of them but still you have to make a choice. That will always be the case when voting about a constitution. It was the case in the European Union in 2005. It will again happen in Turkey when, hopefully in 2012, a totally new constitution will be put to the vote.
• In order to downplay the value of the 24 undisputed amendments, two other ones have been demonized by the opposition. According to the naysayers, the changes to the Constitutional Court (CC) and the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) will allow the government to take over the judiciary. This claim has been disputed by many legal experts in Turkey and by all, I underline all, European institutions that deal with these issues. They have all stressed that the main result of these reforms will be that both the CC and the HSYK will be more representative of the different opinions that we all know exist in Turkey. Not one party or lifestyle should be allowed to dominate the high judicial bodies in any country but, if nothing changes, that will remain the case in Turkey. Will these reforms lead to the end of the separation of powers? That warning has been issued again and again, arguing that the powers of the president and the Minister of Justice, believed by the defeatists to be in the hands of the AKP eternally, will be strengthened.  Please read the amendments and compare them with the present situation. The conclusion can only be that the president and the minister have more powers nowadays! If nothing changes, the president will keep nominating all the members of both CC and HSYK and the minister can block any HSYK decision by simply not showing up at the meetings. If the package will be adopted, most HSYK members will in future be directly elected by other courts and the minister will loose his capacity to stop the HSYK proceedings. If the separation of powers is under threat after adoption of the package, as the 'no' camp keeps repeating, then they should admit that the present situation is even worse.
• A win by the 'yes' votes will strengthen the reformers inside and outside the AKP. The chances to get a totally new constitution soon will grow if this first step is made. If the naysayers get the majority, the ruling party will take a step back from further reforms. The opposition parties that do not want to change the fundamentals of the present constitution, will feel emboldened. The same goes for other necessary changes. Kurds and Alevites should be under no illusion: a rejection of the constitutional package will not speed up the solution of their problems, as many of them hope. The effect will be the opposite.

For all those reasons, I strongly sympathize with the campaign Yetmez ama EVET ('Not enough but yes'). I agree with those who have criticized the absence of many needed reforms in the present proposals. But like them, I do not want to be stuck with the status quo that is worse on all counts. If you are not happy with AKP's performance but you are in favour of improving Turkish democracy, vote 'yes' on September 12 and vote for another party next year.