Next flashpoint in Turkey: constitutional overhaul

By Emma Ross-Thomas - Analysis

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's secular elite, stung by the election of an ex-Islamist president, faces a historic battle over AK Party government plans to jettison a military- inspired constitution and usher in radical reforms.

The secularists, including powerful generals, fear a new charter will erode separation of state and religion, muzzle the army and foment ethnic divisions, especially in the mainly Kurdish southeast. Some argue the very existence of the secular republic founded on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire is at stake.

The Islamist-rooted AK Party, which won a new five-year mandate in July polls, says the new "civilian constitution" will broaden personal freedoms and bring Turkey closer to the European Union it aspires to join.

The text will replace a much more authoritarian charter drafted after a 1980 military coup. The AK Party says it wants to build broad consensus for the changes through open debate.

But a constitution based more strongly on personal liberties, less on state interests, will test Turkish taboos.

Many Turks, for example, would view any easing of curbs on the Kurdish language as a threat to national unity. Lifting a ban on the Muslim headscarf in colleges would upset secularists.

"This is something Turkey and its people have not really experienced ... and without a tradition of consensus, I'm expecting a very tough debate," said columnist Yavuz Baydar.

"There'll be a lot of attempts to confront the AK Party ... as if they are questioning the main tenets of the republic."

The AK Party's refusal to give details on its plans is already stirring unease. It says the draft is still being worked on and will be ready for parliament in three or four months.

"Why is the "civilian" constitution draft being hidden from the civilians?" asked liberal daily Radikal on Tuesday.

AK insists it stands by the secular republic. But political tension tends to hurt Turkish markets otherwise well inclined towards the government and would be an added risk factor for investors, particularly during heightened global volatility.

ARMY TARGETED?

Analysts say that under the reforms the army, which has ousted four cabinets in the past 50 years citing threats to the republican order, may see its powers cut further. Other institutions dominated by secularists, like the judiciary and universities, are also likely to be reformed.

The changes could mean the head of the armed forces reports to the defense minister rather than the prime minister, in line with EU norms. Rulings from a high military board could lose their exemption from judicial review, newspapers say.

The new charter should win praise from Brussels, though it will not tackle the controversial article 301 of Turkey's penal code -- a key EU demand -- under which dozens of writers have been tried for insulting Turkish identity or state institutions.