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Europe
Thousands of Turks march against judiciary law
2007-12-10
ANKARA - Thousands of Turks protested on Sunday against a new law opponents say will undermine judicial independence and demanded respect for secularist values in a new constitution being prepared by the Islamist-rooted ruling party. Lawyers and judges led the demonstration to protest against the law, which changes the appointment process for judges and prosecutors.

The law introduces a justice ministry interview into the selection process. Critics say that opens the way for political interference.

Opponents have also criticised President Abdullah Gul, a former member of the ruling AK Party whose role is to review legislation, for approving the law in just a few days. Gul’s office said a review of the law had started before the draft went to parliament. ‘They do not know the importance of judicial independence ... but we will explain it to them, we will teach them,’ Turkish Bar Association Chairman Ozdemir Ozok shouted to the crowd in Ankara.

The judiciary is traditionally a bastion of secularism and the march turned into a pro-secularist rally. No official figures were available, but television footage showed around 5,000-10,000 people at the march, held amid tight security.

It was reminiscent of massive protests earlier this year at which demonstrators accused the AK Party, whose roots are in political Islam, of undermining Muslim Turkey’s official secular order. ‘Turkey is secular and will remain secular!’ protesters shouted, waving Turkish flags and pictures of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular republic.

The AK Party is preparing a new constitution, to replace a text drafted after a 1980 military coup, and secularists fear the new text will blur the strict separation of religion and state.
Posted by:Steve White

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