Turkish president blocks government move to speed up referendum on presidency

Turkey's pro-secular President Ahmet Necdet Sezer yesterday blocked a measure that would have allowed the Islamic-rooted government to hold a referendum on a new presidential voting system on July 22, the same day as early general elections.

Earlier this month, Parliament approved the measure speeding up the time in which a plebiscite could be held. The government wants Turkey to elect the next president by popular vote, not in Parliament. Its presidential candidate was forced to drop his bid in May in a dispute that highlighted a rift between the government and the military-backed, secular establishment.

Sezer, a staunch secularist who is often at odds with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, said he vetoed the bill Monday because it conflicted with the constitution and because the government's wish to hold a referendum at the same time as general elections to save costs was baseless.

Sezer's move delays any referendum until after the elections, assuming the new government would want to go ahead with it. Erdogan's ruling party currently has a comfortable majority in Parliament, but the referendum campaign could lose support if Erdogan's party wins fewer seats and becomes part of a ruling coalition.

It is not certain that Turkey would hold a referendum at all. The secular opposition has asked the Constitutional Court to cancel the government's proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for a direct vote for president. On Monday, Sezer also asked the Constitutional Court to cancel the constitutional amendment.

The court, viewed as a guardian of Turkey's secular traditions, is expected to rule on the matter on Tuesday.

Sezer objects to the election of a president by popular vote over concerns that the change could pit a president with a strong popular mandate against the prime minister and cause instability.

Erdogan sought to change the presidential elections system to a direct popular vote after the secular opposition vetoed balloting in Parliament and blocked a process that would have elected Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as president.

The opposition objected to Gul's candidacy over concerns that the ruling party - which has an overwhelming majority in Parliament - would expand its powers to the presidency and undermine Turkey's secular laws. The president has the right to veto laws and make key appointments.

Erdogan, whose government has carried out more Western reforms than many previous governments, denies he has an Islamist agenda.