Kamil Pasha

Though the Third National Program declared last Monday by government spokesperson and State Minister Cemil Cicek raised hopes among the pro-EU intellectuals of Turkey, many are skeptical about the program’s prospects….

[JW: The Third National Program is a long list of reforms required to meet EU requirements in many sectors, ranging from sewage collection to military expenditure oversight. The questions are: Will the government have enough money to implement them? Will the opposition CHP block the reforms? Will the Constitutional Court block those reforms that require constitutional changes? Will the reforms be implemented once they are passed?]

… The CHP has already declared that it won’t support any constitutional amendment that will be brought to Parliament by the AK Party. Even worse than the lack of cooperation from the opposition, the AK Party also faces strong resistance from the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court, which has set a precedent with its decision to audit constitutional amendments according to content, will be able to do so whenever the CHP appeals to the court for the annulment of any constitutional amendment. A particular issue that will probably be brought before the court is the civilian inspection of the expenditures of the military establishment. Experts point out that the support of the CHP during the Second National Program was one of the essential elements of the AK Party’s success in 2003 and 2004 in passing a record number of EU-related reforms. The Third National Program will most likely be missing that support. (click for article)

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