PACE CALLS ON TURKEY’S INSTITUTIONS "TO RESPECT EACH OTHER’S COMPETENCES"

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.06.2008 14:07 GMT+04:00

Underlying the importance of "effective separation of powers", the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) called on Turkey’s
institutions "to respect each other’s competences" and join efforts
to pursue political reforms that will turn the country into a modern
democracy.

Following the proposals by the rapporteur, Luc Van den Brande (Belgium,
EPP/CD), the parliamentarians said that, regardless of its outcome, the
lawsuit against the ruling party, as well as the Prime Minister and the
President of the Republic, "is seriously affecting political stability
in the country" and the functioning of democratic institutions. The
dissolution of political parties, they said, "should be regarded as
an exceptional measure to be applied only in cases where the party
concerned uses violence or threatens civil peace and the democratic
constitutional order."

According to the Assembly, "a comprehensive review of the law on
political parties is required in order to bring this text fully
into line with European standards", and the need for a new, civilian
constitution altogether "has now become more evident than ever". In
this regard, the government’s initiative to draft a new constitution
opens "a window of opportunity for a broad national debate involving
all actors of society".

The Assembly asked its Monitoring Committee to intensify its
post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, closely follow the development
of the democratic functioning of its state institutions and, in
particular, the constitutional drafting process, and if need be
"seriously consider the possibility of re-opening the monitoring
procedure," PACE Communication Unit reports