Erdoğan scores partial victory

The planned reform of the Turkish constitution is a step toward a more democratic Turkey, writes the daily Die Presse: "Things could have been worse for Erdogan. Of course the Turkish prime minister will not be pleased by the fact that parts of his constitutional reform were overturned by the highest court - namely those by means of which he sought to gain more power over the judiciary. But for the most part the Constitutional Court judges had no problems with the reform package. The upshot is that rather than being a defeat for the conservative prime minister, their judgement is a partial victory - even if it does contain a few setbacks. ... A failure of the constitutional reform would be dangerous because the country needs a new constitution. But it needs one that does away with the old authoritative structures while avoiding putting the power of the military into the hands of Erdogan's moderate Islamic governing party. Such a constitution would be a true, clear victory: for all of Turkey." 

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