I never believed in anti-EU conspiracy theories in Turkey, which generally argue that the EU wants Turkey to change in a negative way, not a positive one. Some of them even suggest that the EU elite would actually like to see a theocratic state in Turkey to build a stronger Christian European unity with such an antagonism.
In this regard, it is surprising for me to see that the EU supports the upcoming constitutional amendments, which are controversial enough to force the Turkish government to put them on a referendum. It is surprising, because it is very obvious that these amendments are of a kind that no EU nation would ever agree to have them in their own country.
There are many reasons, but let me give you four of them to explain that these amendments will drive Turkey away from democracy, if they're approved by the majority of the people. Such a result in the referendum will be as anti-democratic as the minaret ban in Switzerland, but their consequences for Turkey and the world can be more destructive.
1) Apart from the content, the method of the referendum is clearly against the EU criterion. "The Code of Good Practice on Referendums" by the Venice Commission emphasizes that the people should be able to vote for or against each proposed article separately.
2) The most important one among the proposed changes: With the current system, 53 percent of the members of the Constitutional Court are elected by senior justices and 27 percent are chosen by the president. With the new system, the share of the electors will change as follows: 37 percent by the president, 27 percent by senior justices, 16 percent by the parliament and 15 percent by the high education board. It means that the AKP government will shape up almost 70 percent of the Constitutional Court, which is a key institution in a democratic checks and balances system. If approved by the referendum, there will be no separation of powers in Turkey anymore.
3) Previous point is more of an issue about macro-politics, but the new amendments will also bring catastrophe to millions of ordinary Turkish citizens who may one day need an independent judiciary when they confront a violation of their rights by the government. One article of AKP's package ultimately limits the courts to review the decisions of the administration only in their relation to current laws. It means that a court cannot be able to stop the construction of a hydro-electric dam, citing its environmental threats anymore.
4) All the eye-candies that the government put into this dangerous package to make it appear more attractive had actually already become law. For instance, the freedom of information had been guaranteed by a law in the past and putting it into the Constitution won't make any difference. Moreover, some eye-candies will have some painful adverse effects. For example, an amendment will allow a citizen to press a charge in the Constitutional Court. In appearance, it can be seen as a more democratic option, but it is not. After thousands of individual cases, the Constitutional Court will be so paralyzed that each case will be concluded after years. So this "right" will actually make it harder for a Turkish citizen to exhaust domestic remedies before going to the European Court of Human Rights.
Aren't the politicians and bureaucrats of the EU aware of these facts? Are they fall for those needless eye-candies? Or do they have an agenda that we don't know about yet?
Whatever their answers are, simply, this referendum is about destroying Turkey as we know it as a democratic, social state of law and justice.
