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Erdogan Has Tricky Path To Constitutional Referendum

Yavuz Baydar asks whether a draft referendum on a new constitution is progress for Turkish democracy.
Members of Turkish parliament from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) stage a protest during a debate at the parliament in Ankara March 30, 2012. Turkey's ruling party pushed through a school reform act on Friday that provoked brawls among parliamentarians and mass protests by secular Turks and teachers, who said the law was pushing an Islamic agenda and would lower education standards. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sent shudders through the secular opposition earlier this year when he said

Will Turkey go to a referendum over a new draft constitution? If you read into the repetitious signals from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and lend an ear to the loudness of its voices, the answer is a loud and clear yes.

It was once more expressed by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a behind-closed-doors party meeting with AKP deputies representing the Aegean (Western Anatolian) region, that the time is getting ripe for a referendum on adopting a constitution, and that it is inevitable.

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