TURKEY WENT TO the polls on Sunday to vote on the most significant proposed reforms to the country’s constitution since the 1980 military coup.

The public showed strong support for the proposals, with 58% of the vote in favour of the proposed amendments.

The move has been praised by both the United States and the European Union . US President Barack Obama called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on the developments and to acknowledge ”the vibrancy of Turkey’s democracy”.

The move has been viewed as bringing Turkey closer in line with European Union standards. The European Commission has welcomed the results, and released a statement in which Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said:

As we consistently said in the past months, these reforms are a step in the right direction as they address a number of long-standing priorities in Turkey’s efforts towards fully complying with the accession criteria.

Among the 26 proposed amendments was the nullification of Article 15 of the Turkish constitution, which had previously barred military generals from standing trial.

The Yes vote will also mean that Turkey’s Constitutional Court will have 17 members instead of its current 11 from now on, and the Turkish Grand Assembly will be able to elect three members to the Court from a pool of candidates proposed by independent bar associations.

The reforms will strengthen gender equality and workers’ rights, and ban discrimination against children, the elderly and the disabled. It will also scrap the existing ban on politically motivated strikes.

Criticisms

However, the results have raised concerns amongst some secular Turks, many of whom view the military as the defender of the Kemalist constitution and are suspicious of the motives of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

The AK Party is viewed as having slightly Islamist roots, and secularists fear that the reforms are a way for the government to seize control of the judiciary.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has appealed for all Turks to respect the result, however, saying:

The public has the final say in democracies. I would like to remind everyone to welcome the result with respect and maturity.